Despite war in Ukraine, Western countries still import Russian uranium to fuel nuclear reactors
While Russian President Vladimir Putin’s military occupies Ukraine’s largest nuclear plant and attacks the country's power infrastructure, Europe and the United States still depend on Russian nuclear fuel to power their own electricity grids.
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Europe → import → grids
Canadian-owned Westinghouse Electric is among the companies that receive low enriched uranium (LEU) from Russia to fuel commercial nuclear reactors in the U.S., shipping data analyzed by CBC’s the fifth estate shows.
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data → own → estate
The U.S. banned the import of Russian enriched uranium in August 2024 in order “to sever U.S. dependence on Russian material and secure a strong domestic fuel supply,” according to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE).
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U.S. → ban → Energy
But the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act allows the DOE to waive the ban if “no alternative viable source of LEU is available” or the “import of the LEU is in the national interest.”
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import → prohibit → interest
The waivers are scheduled to end by Jan. 1, 2028.
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waivers → schedule → Jan.
The Bellona Environmental Transparency Center in Vilnius, Lithuania, reported in June that the U.S. imported 400 tonnes of low enriched uranium from Russia in 2025 alone worth around $1 billion US, and that the major recipients included subsidiaries of the French-owned nuclear company Framatome (more than 127 tonnes), U.S. nuclear fuel supplier Global Nuclear Fuel Americas (more than 110 tonnes) and Westinghouse (around 27 tonnes).
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recipients → report → company
The European Union has no ban on the import of Russian enriched uranium and Canada has not sanctioned doing business with Russia’s state atomiс energy corporation Rosatom or its export arm, Tenex.
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Canada → have → arm
“We are against these exports while there is this situation of war [and a] direct threat to Ukraine,” said Dmitry Gorchakov, nuclear adviser at Bellona and co-author of the June report on Russia’s nuclear industry and the war in Ukraine.
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Gorchakov → be → Ukraine
“All countries should try to lower their dependence on Russia and cancel all possible co-operation.”
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countries → try → operation
The fifth estate analyzed shipping data between Westinghouse and Tenex from U.S. Customs and Border Protection, collected by the commercial search engine ImportYeti.
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estate → analyze → engine
Over the four-year period of the war in Ukraine, Moscow-based Tenex exported various amounts of uranium from Russia to the address of Westinghouse’s sprawling fuel fabrication plant outside Columbia, S.C.
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deal → base → Israel
Here's what we know
In one shipment in March of this year, Tenex reportedly delivered 50,612 kilograms of uranium to Westinghouse in four containers, departing Russia from the port of St. Petersburg and arriving in the U.S. at the port of Baltimore.
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Tenex → know → Baltimore
Enriched uranium shipped to Westinghouse’s South Carolina facility is processed into fuel pellets and then put into fuel rod assemblies that are sent to commercial nuclear power reactors.
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that → ship → reactors
“The way that it works is that usually a utility purchases uranium from a source and then the uranium is transported,” said Curtis Roberts, vice-president of communications at Orano USA, a subsidiary of the French nuclear fuel provider that also manages shipment of uranium to the U.S.
“The customer, the utility, is the one then who has a contract with the fuel fabricator.
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who → work → fabricator
They purchase their uranium, their uranium is transferred to the fuel fabricator, the fuel fabricator then turns it into whatever fuel form is requested by the customer.
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form → purchase → customer
And then the customer receives the fuel assembly to put into their reactor.
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customer → receive → reactor
Westinghouse Electric is 51 per cent owned by Brookfield Renewable Partners, a subsidiary of the Toronto-based investment management firm Brookfield Corporation.
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Electric → own → firm
The other 49 per cent of Westinghouse is held by Saskatchewan-based Cameco Corporation, one of the world’s largest uranium miners and nuclear fuel suppliers.
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cent → hold → miners
Westinghouse and Brookfield did not respond to questions for this story.
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Westinghouse → respond → story
U.S. lobbyist disclosures show that Cameco reported lobbying on the Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act in Washington earlier this year, but in responding to emails from the fifth estate the company did not say why.
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company → show → estate
Cameco said it “doesn't handle enriched uranium” and directed us to speak to individual U.S. utilities.
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it → say → utilities
The U.S. Energy Information Administration, a government agency within the DOE, does not publish the total amount of uranium purchased from Russia, citing “data protections designed for privacy” in an email to the fifth estate.
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Administration → publish → estate
But the administration's latest uranium marketing annual report on July 29 did report that in 2025, Russia was the largest foreign provider to the U.S. of uranium enrichment services.
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Russia → report → services
“It is a way for Russia and Rosatom and for Russian propaganda to say that you are dependent on us, that you can't do anything without us,” said Gorchakov.
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Gorchakov → say → us
Decades-long dependence
The U.S. and Europe have had a decades-long dependence on Russian enriched uranium that Western governments and industry are trying to replace by ramping up domestic production.
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governments → have → production
Russia supplies approximately 44 per cent of global enriched uranium and 20 to 30 per cent of enriched uranium used in the U.S. and Europe, according to a U.S. Department of Energy estimate from November 2025.
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Russia → supply → November
Russia has “been the major supplier of low-enriched uranium for many years and it takes a long time to make changes in the global infrastructure
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it → enrich → infrastructure
,” said Jeremy Whitlock, a Canadian nuclear scientist and adjunct professor at McMaster University in Hamilton.
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Whitlock → say → Hamilton
Whitlock, who is also a nuclear safety consultant, said there can be an intent to make such a change, but if it’s a commodity that’s “desperately needed,” accommodations are required.
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accommodations → say → change
“You have simultaneously the intent to build up infrastructure elsewhere and domestic infrastructure or other suppliers while having to maintain the connection to the Russian supply in the meantime.”
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You → have → meantime
Brookfield Corporation CEO Bruce Flatt attended a ceremony last October in Tokyo, where he posed with U.S. President Donald Trump and U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who announced that Westinghouse was going to “invest up to $100 billion in U.S. nuclear reactors to restore U.S. energy dominance.”
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Westinghouse → attend → dominance
On its website last month, Westinghouse spotlighted a New York Times story that reported the company could also benefit from Trump’s recent announcement of a civil nuclear co-operation agreement with Saudi Arabia to build new reactors.
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company → spotlight → reactors
Although Cameco has two operating uranium mines in northern Saskatchewan, Canada doesn't need enrichment facilities because its 16 operating CANDU reactors (15 in Ontario and one in New Brunswick) are fuelled by natural uranium.
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reactors → have → uranium
But proposed new reactors, including small modular reactors being considered by several provinces, would require enriched uranium.
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reactors → propose → uranium
In 2024, the federal government announced it intended to “backstop” up to $500 million in enriched nuclear fuel purchase contracts from allied countries.
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it → announce → countries
Energy minister plans 'nuclear renaissance' with up to 10 reactors built by 2040
Canada built its nuclear industry to avoid foreign fuel.
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Canada → plan → fuel
Its new reactors will depend on it
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reactors → depend → it
While Canada has imposed Russian sanctions against 875 entities and 1,739 individuals, Global Affairs confirmed to the fifth estate that Rosatom and its export arm, Tenex, are not listed.
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Rosatom → impose → estate
“The government of Canada has not imposed sanctions on the state atomiс energy corporation Rosatom or Techsnabexport (Tenex),” the federal department said in an email.
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department → impose → email
“However, a number of subsidiaries and individuals related to Rosatom have been sanctioned.”
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number → relate → Rosatom
…and 9 more, not listed.
