WASHINGTON, September 13. /TASS/. The US Department of Commerce and Russia’s nuclear state corporation Rosatom initialed a draft amendment to extend the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation, which expires this year.
The amendment, if finalized, will extend the deal to 2040 and "reduce US reliance on uranium from Russia" for the next 20 years.
According to US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross, the proposed amendment "will contribute to the restoration of America’s nuclear energy advantage and protect the domestic industry from dumped Russian uranium."
The Department of Commerce is seeking to finalize the deal no later than October 5, 2020.
The Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation was signed in 1992, with a series of amendments added in 1994, 1996, 1997 and 2008. Under the agreement, the amount of Russian uranium products entering the US market is restricted by special quotas regulating the commercial export of Russian uranium. These quotas were set in 2008 for the last time and are valid through 2020.