Damascus-SANA
At a time when the United States of America is still calling on its European allies to dispense with Russian gas, oil and coal, leaving the European continent in a state of confusion due to the inability to dispense with Russian energy. US nuclear power, according to the New York Times.
At a time when European countries are striving to find solutions to the predicament they have placed themselves in as a result of the package of sanctions that they imposed on Moscow against the backdrop of the Russian special military operation in Ukraine, especially on the energy sector of oil and gas, Washington also finds itself in a greater dilemma represented in securing imports of enriched uranium to operate It has clean nuclear energy, given that Russia is the world's leading exporter of its energy.
America is the country that consumes the most uranium with a volume of 19.16 thousand tons annually, 20% of which covers electricity throughout the United States of America, which is increasing pressure in this file because it obtains about 30% of enriched uranium from two of Russia’s allies, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, according to the Energy Information Administration. American.
Within the framework of this Russian pressure card, the Russian atomic scientist Igor Estrovets predicted that stopping Russia's export of enriched uranium would be a disaster for Washington in the field of energy, because the United States does not have alternative thermal plants for nuclear plants like Japan.
In the event that Russia uses its deferred trump card, America will not be the only one in this predicament, as a new source of concern and another concern will be added to the European Union countries due to the expected “Russian weapon” that Moscow may use in the face of Western sanctions, which Bloomberg Agency warned of in a report She said: "If Europe continues to impose economic sanctions on Russia, it will face a big problem represented by failures related to clean nuclear energy, which makes it impossible for Europe to turn its back on Russia, especially since 40 percent of uranium supplies to it come from Russia."
What Bloomberg warned of was confirmed by the German NTV channel, saying: “The European Union uses enriched uranium more than its reliance on gas,” considering that European nuclear power stations will not be able to overcome the matter without causing serious damage if the Russian uranium tap is closed, which threatens energy supplies. Electricity in entire countries.
These Western fears are reinforced by the fact that Russia’s Rosatom is the largest company in the world specialized in building nuclear reactors and uranium enrichment, and produces approximately 35 percent of the world’s enriched uranium, making it a giant in this industry with exports to the United States amounting to about 20 percent and to Europe with 40 percent of their needs. of enriched uranium in addition to owning about 18 nuclear reactors in the countries of the European Union.
Energy experts confirmed to Sky News that Russia's decision to stop the supply of uranium will undermine electrical energy supplies in Western countries and America, explaining that this is what prompted Washington to refrain so far from banning nuclear energy imports from Russia, despite the Russian military operation in Ukraine entering its fourth month, because it will not be able to Continue operating its nuclear plants for more than a year if Russian uranium exports to it are stopped.
The uranium paper that Russia may be forced to use will force France, one of the largest producers of atomic energy in Europe, to use its gas reserves and consumption to keep the lights “lighting homes,” where expert Nicolas Leclerc, co-founder of the Paris-based energy consultancy Omenghi, warned that the topic Uranium has become a threat to the entire European balance "We have a French problem that occurs at the wrong time, given the geopolitical situation, the entire European balance may be threatened."
Russia's production of natural uranium before enrichment is about 2,846 tons annually, which makes it the seventh in the world in its extraction and first in its enrichment and export, which makes Washington "swallow the knife on both sides" at a time when observers do not rule out that uranium will turn into a weapon that cannot be confronted with the hands of Russian President Vladimir Putin in the event that Washington and its allies indulge in economic sanctions against Moscow.
Fahmy El Shaarawy
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