WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY), ranking member of the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources (ENR), applauded the U.S. House of Representatives for passing by voice vote H.R.1042, companion legislation to S. 763, a bipartisan bill introduced by Barrasso to prohibit U.S. imports of Russian uranium.

“The United States must ban the sale of Russian uranium in America. Vladimir Putin has used Russia’s nuclear industry to fund his brutal invasion of Ukraine. It is estimated that the U.S. spends roughly $1 billion per year on nuclear fuel from Russia. The legislation that Chair Rodgers and I have sponsored will end our dependence on Russian nuclear fuel. I applaud the House of Representatives for passing this bill with overwhelming bipartisan support. The Senate should immediately send it to the president,” said Senator Barrasso.

This week, both the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives are also expected to vote on H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024. This legislation includes the Nuclear Fuel Security Act to ensure that the United States can develop and maintain a reliable domestic supply of nuclear fuel. The U.S Senate adopted the Barrasso-Manchin amendment by a vote of 96 to 3 on July 27, 2023.

Background Information:

On March 9, 2023, companion legislation, S. 763, was introduced by U.S. Senator John Barrasso (R-WY) alongside U.S. Senators Joe Manchin (D-WV), Jim Risch (R-ID), Martin Heinrich (D-NM), Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Chris Coons (D-DE), and Roger Marshall (R-KS).  

On May 17, 2023, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources adopted S.763 as an amendment to S. 452, the Nuclear Fuel Security Act of 2023, and then ordered, by voice vote, the measure to be reported to the full Senate. 

On February 16, 2023, Senators Manchin and Barrasso introduced the Nuclear Fuel Security Act, to ensure a domestic supply of nuclear fuel for America’s existing and advanced reactors. This legislation is nearly identical to the Fission for the Future Act that passed the Senate by voice vote in December 2022.

On April 7, 2022, Barrasso introduced the Fueling Our Nuclear Future Act to accelerate the availability of domestically produced HALEU for advanced reactors. It directs DOE to partner with industry to establish a domestic HALEU enrichment capability. It also directs DOE to make HALEU available from their inventories to ensure advanced reactors have the fuel they need until U.S. commercial enrichment is available.

On March 31, 2022, Barrasso was joined by Senators Cynthia Lummis (R-WY), Roger Marshall (R-KS), and Kevin Cramer (R-ND) in introducing the National Opportunity to Restore Uranium Supply Services In America (NO RUSSIA) Act of 2022. The NO RUSSIA Act will authorize DOE to establish a national strategic uranium reserve and take additional actions, as necessary, to ensure a domestic supply of fuel for existing nuclear reactors.

On March 16, 2022, Barrasso, Lummis, Marshall, and Cramer introduced legislation to ban imports of Russian uranium.