India buys first Russian uranium batch since 2019 for $13.5mln
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Russia last exported uranium to India in 2019, selling a total of 1,770 tonnes valued at $101.6 million.
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Cylinders of uranium from Russia are loaded onto a transport truck at the port of Dunkirk, northern France (AFP)
Russia delivered 118 tonnes of uranium to India in June worth $13.5 million, marking its first batch to the Southeast Asian country since 2019, Sputnik reported, based on data from the Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry.
Russia last exported uranium to India in 2019, selling a total of 1,770 tonnes valued at $101.6 million.
On Thursday, Sputnik reported that the United States bought 416 tonnes of uranium from Russia in the first half of 2023, which is 2.2 times more than in the same period last year and the largest amount since 2005.
A newly published report by Reuters highlights the #US dependence on #Russian uranium, citing lobbying efforts to exempt Russian uranium from #Washington's sanctions.#Russia pic.twitter.com/fbO3nHlt5e
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) March 2, 2022
This comes months after bipartisan legislation to ban imports of Russian uranium was introduced on March 9 by US Senators John Barrasso, Joe Manchin, Jim Risch, Martin Heinrich, Cynthia Lummis, Chris Coons, and Roger Marshall.
Barasso, a ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), claimed that under the pretense that "every dollar we give to Russia supports Putin’s brutal war on Ukraine," stressing the need to ban the import of Russian uranium and focus on local energy resources.
The Senator also alleged that the local nuclear industry "is ready to transition away from Russian uranium" by focusing on local resources, such as those available in Wyoming, to boost production.
Instead of decreasing imports, however, the US has just marked a new record of uranium imports since 2005.
It is noteworthy that Russia remains one of India's key partners in nuclear energy. New units of India's Kudankulam nuclear power plant are being constructed in collaboration with Russian nuclear giant Rosatom, with the prospects of other joint projects under discussion.
