British strategists are concerned about Russia’s competence in, and capacity for, producing uranium, while the West twiddles its thumbs. A new report, “Mining for Influence: Russian Leverage over Global Uranium Production,” was issued by Britain’s Center for Strategic Advantage (CSA) and featured by the Financial Times (FT). CSA’s stated prime concern is that the “post-WWII, rules-based international system is being challenged by authoritarians seeking to pitch the game in their favor. They do so with a variety of tools, including leverage in globalized supply chains, to exert political influence far beyond their own borders.”
One discovers there that, while the West is not serious about getting the job done, Russia actually produces things. This apparently gives them an unfair advantage. As FT summarized: “Russia could increase from around 24% of global uranium supplies to 36% by 2040. The report states that, ‘if all countries went ahead with their existing, committed, planned, and prospective production, and mined each asset at full capacity, Moscow’s share would rise from almost a quarter to 36 percent by 2040'.” They quote the leader of the study, Gareth Heywood: “By 2040, we could be looking at a dependency on Russian-mined uranium akin to our reliance on Russian oil and gas in 2022.” But, wait for it...
The report also noted that “Western countries are unable to meet demand due to a lack of investment and delays in issuing permits for the development of new deposits, while Russia’s uranium mining capacity will continue to grow.” Hence, “Russia remains a major supplier of nuclear power plant fuel in Europe” and “is developing projects in Tanzania and Namibia.”
Apparently, Russia’s “secret sauce” is that they attempt to function normally, something the U.S. did a pretty good job at, which now makes the West look bad.
