House Subcommittee Chair Plans Rosatom Sanctions Bill

Rep. Tom Kean Jr., R-N.J., chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Europe, said March 12 that he's drafting a “tough sanctions bill” to help reduce U.S. reliance on Russian state-owned company Rosatom for nuclear fuel.

At a subcommittee hearing, Kean said the U.S. and its allies should “decouple” themselves from Rosatom, whose troubling behavior includes aiding Russia’s illegal occupation of Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and helping China enhance its nuclear weapons capabilities. He believes his bill is needed because the Biden administration has sanctioned “only a handful of Rosatom’s subsidiaries and corporate officers, while Rosatom itself remains untouched.”

Kean said his legislation would send a “much-needed market signal” that domestic suppliers of nuclear fuel should ramp up production. His proposal is intended to complement a House-passed bill that would ban imports of Russian uranium by 2027 (see 2312120008).

Other speakers at the hearing offered a range of opinions. Rep. William Keating, D-Mass., the subcommittee's ranking member, said additional sanctions may be appropriate but that the "quickest and most direct way" to counter Rosatom is for Congress to pass the administration's supplemental appropriations request, which includes almost $3 billion to boost domestic nuclear fuel production and enrichment.

David Albright, president of the Institute for Science and International Security, and Anthony Ruggiero, adjunct senior fellow for the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, both said they favor additional sanctions.

The “status quo is not sustainable,” Albright testified. “It leaves the United States and its allies vulnerable to political and economic pressure by Rosatom and its owner Russia, with the constant threat that this [Vladimir] Putin-controlled entity could cut off energy supplies.”

Ruggiero said that "sanctions should be part of a coordinated strategy to incentivize a transition to U.S. and allied nuclear industries as alternative suppliers over a four-year period to end Russia’s domination and ensure that China does not fill the void."

Theresa Sabonis-Helf, concentration chair for science, technology and international affairs at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, cautioned that sanctions could backfire because the U.S. nuclear industry is far from ready to sever ties with Rosatom. She also warned that sanctions could isolate Rosatom from international efforts to promote nuclear safety. "At this time, our best path to enhance energy security in the nuclear sector comes from diversification of fuel sources," she said.