Russia remained the top supplier of nuclear reactor fuel to the US last year, even after a ban on enriched uranium imports from the country took effect in May.

The Tanzanian government had completed an environmental assessment in June and has green-lit the project to start.

China National Nuclear Corporation (CNNC) broke ground for the project on 12 July 2024.

The then US President Joe Biden's Prohibiting Russian Uranium Imports Act came into force in August 2024 and lasts until 2040.

ČEZ said the contract increased the diversification of suppliers and helped the energy security for the country.

In October 2023, the board of directors of Orano approved an investment of about EUR1.7 billion to raise the production capacity of the plant. The decision followed requests from some US and European customers who are seeking alternatives to Russian sources of supply.

KHNP said the contract enables it to diversify its sources of enriched uranium for nuclear power generation, enhancing the stability of its fuel supply.

Russia is continuing remediation of former uranium mining sites in central Asia with a new project in Tajikistan.

Arlit is Orano's only currently operational uranium mine in Niger.

The latest move targets a particularly vulnerable US link in the nuclear fuel cycle. Russia controls almost half the world’s capacity to separate the uranium isotopes needed in reactors, and last year supplied more than a quarter of the US’s enriched fuel.