Senate EPW Committee questions NRC chair on uranium export approvals for Uranium One

Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) Chairman Kristine Svinicki pledged during a hearing on Tuesday to answer questions related to information provided to Congress about Russia’s ability to export U.S. uranium before a Russian company’s acquisition of Uranium One was approved.

U.S. Sen. John Barrasso (R-WY), the chairman of the Senate Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee, recently raised questions about whether the NRC and Department of Energy (DoE) intentionally misled Congress on uranium exports before Atomredmetzoloto (ARMZ) acquired Wyoming-based Uranium One in 2010.

“In 2010, I wrote to President Obama about my concerns about the sale of the U.S. uranium assets of Uranium One, which is a Canadian company, to Rosatom, who is a Russian state-owned company,” Barrasso said during Tuesday’s hearing. “I specifically raised concerns about future exports of U.S. uranium by Uranium One. I believe the Obama administration’s response to my letter was at best misleading.”

Former NRC Chairman Gregory Jaczko responded that Uranium One would have to apply for and obtain a specific NRC license in order to export uranium for use in reactor fuel, Barrasso said.

“We now know this is false,” Barrasso said. “Uranium One did not need a specific NRC license to export U.S. uranium. Instead, Uranium One only needed to be, and later was, listed as a supplier on a transport company’s NRC export license. Subsequently, Uranium One uranium has been exported overseas.”

Svinicki said NRC had received a letter sent by Barrasso on the matter earlier this week, and “as your letter makes clear, the responses you have received have not fully depicted the complexity of this issue.”

The NRC, Svinicki added, welcomes the opportunity to respond to Barrasso’s questions.

“I think it will allow us to depict it in context and more accurately than the responses you have received,” she said.