NAC Special Report Examines Impact of Russian Sanctions on Nuclear Fuel Markets

NAC International released a special report March 28 that looks at the impacts of Russian sanctions on nuclear fuel markets. This report is available as part of NAC’s annual Nuclear Fuel Market Issues & Insights market report.

The reaction by the international community to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has been swift and includes a wide array of sanctions against Russia targeting banks, oil refineries, military exports, and oil and gas exports. There is a growing pressure to expand sanctions to include Russia’s nuclear fuel exports. Russia may also impose a ban on its nuclear fuel exports. As Russia is a major supplier of nuclear fuel, any governmental actions to restrict Russia’s nuclear fuel exports has the potential to significantly impact the nuclear fuel markets. 

While the breadth and scale of any restrictions on Russia’s nuclear fuel exports remains uncertain, it is nonetheless important for the industry to fully analyze the possibilities and implement necessary actions to mitigate potential impacts and ensure continuity of fuel supplies. Even without new restrictions on Russian fuel exports, many fuel buyers will undoubtedly remove Russia from the list of approved fuel suppliers for the foreseeable future. 

This scenario raises important questions. Are there viable alternate suppliers capable of absorbing additional market share? If so, how much supply is available in the near term, either in existing inventories or in utilization of installed capacity? How much new supply capacity is possible, and how long will it take to ramp up? What are expected price implications? 

This special report takes an in-depth look at these questions and analyzes the effects on natural uranium, conversion, enrichment, and fuel fabrication. Click here for more information.