Columbia International Affairs Online: Policy Briefs

CIAO DATE: 04/2009

NUCLEAR FUEL BANKS: Moscow, Washington to Lead on "Mergers"

Danila Bochkarev

July 2008

EastWest Institute

Abstract

The United States and Russia are still the giants of nuclear power, accounting for more than half the world's enriched uranium production. Twenty-five percent of the world's nuclear power plants are found in the United States and half of those power plants use Russian uranium. Russian nuclear fuel now constitutes 10 percent of the U.S. power generation mix The interdependence arising from existing trade in nuclear fuel points toward a natural partnership.