# Russia's nuclear leverage over America

> The U.S. banned Russian uranium but kept loopholes open, leaving Moscow with a $1 billion annual stranglehold on American nuclear power.
- Title: Russia's nuclear leverage over America · Foreign Policy
- Summary: The U.S. banned Russian uranium but kept loopholes open, leaving Moscow with a $1 billion annual stranglehold on American nuclear power. The U.S. can't…
- Keywords: russia, united states, uranium enrichment, nuclear energy, rosatom, sanctions, energy security, megatons to megawatts, vladimir putin, nuclear fuel, geopolitical leverage, Russia's
- Source: Foreign Policy — https://foreignpolicy.com/2026/09/21/uranium-russia-us-nuclear-energy-enrichment-sanctions-putin-trump
- Author: Agathe Demarais
- Published: 2026-09-23T00:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 3 min
- Topics: russia, united states, uranium enrichment, nuclear energy, rosatom, sanctions, energy security, megatons to megawatts, vladimir putin, nuclear fuel, geopolitical leverage
## Soviet warheads powered America
Between 1995 and 2013, uranium from 20,000 decommissioned Soviet nuclear warheads supplied up to 10 percent of U.S. electricity through the Megatons to Megawatts program.

> Between 1995 and 2013, the uranium from around 20,000 Soviet nuclear warheads supplied up to 10 percent of U.S. electricity.
## A $12 billion success with hidden costs
The program eliminated over a quarter of global bomb-grade uranium, but decades of Russian reliance crippled U.S. domestic enrichment capacity.
## America lost its enrichment plants
Paducah, Kentucky, America's only domestically owned enrichment facility, shut down when the program ended. Today, the only U.S. commercial-scale enrichment plant is owned by Urenco, a British-Dutch-German firm.
## Russia still dominates enrichment
In 2025, Russia's state-owned Rosatom supplied 26 percent of enrichment services to U.S. nuclear utilities, earning $1 billion annually, roughly 70 percent above prewar levels.
## The ban has massive loopholes
Washington banned Russian uranium imports in August 2024, but the ban includes waivers allowing roughly 470 tons of Russian uranium per year until 2028.
## Quotas copied from 1992
U.S. nuclear experts copy-pasted uranium quotas from a 1992 anti-dumping settlement without calculating appropriate import levels for current needs.
## The ban barely reduces imports
In 2024, permitted Russian uranium imports were only 4 percent below prewar averages and will drop just over 1 percent yearly before a full ban in 2028.
## Moscow's ban is also theater
Putin retaliated with a ban on uranium exports to the U.S., but the Kremlin issued three licenses for deliveries anyway, including 100 tons to Baltimore in February 2025.
## Domestic replacements won't arrive in time
The U.S. Energy Department gave $900 million to three enrichment companies, but none expect commercial-scale output before the 2030s.
## Lawrence Livermore agrees: too slow
Researchers concluded that domestic production will not be sufficient to replace Russian uranium by the end of the decade.
## Four firms control global uranium
Rosatom controls 43 percent of global enrichment capacity, Urenco 25 percent, China National Nuclear Corp. 20 percent, and France's Orano 11 percent.
## China is not a solution
The Energy Department suspects Beijing facilitated re-export of Russian uranium to the U.S. in 2023-24, making Chinese suppliers unreliable.
## Europe and U.S. compete for same supply
Urenco and Orano have thin spare capacity and won't expand production until 2028. Europe is also cutting Russian uranium dependency, creating bidding competition.
## Congress quietly removed tough sanctions
The Lindsey Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act removed provisions threatening foreign uranium purchasers with sanctions, signaling Washington expects to miss the 2028 deadline.
## Advanced reactors need Russian uranium
The White House plans to quadruple nuclear capacity by 2050 using advanced reactors that run on a uranium type only Rosatom sells commercially today.
## Putin's leverage in peace talks
For the Kremlin, $1 billion in annual uranium shipments is not profit but leverage. As U.S. envoys shuttle between Moscow and Kyiv, Russia holds this ace.

> For the Kremlin, annual uranium shipments of $1 billion to the United States are not about profits for Rosatom. They are a form of leverage.
## Key takeaway

The U.S. can't replace Russian uranium supplies by 2028 because decades of reliance killed domestic enrichment capacity, giving Putin a powerful bargaining chip.