According to the media outlet, US uranium Energy Fuels Inc. and Ur-Energy Inc. filed a petition in January asking the US Commerce Department to investigate the matter under Section 232 of the 1962 Trade Expansion Act; the same provision US President Donald Trump used earlier to impose tariffs on steel and aluminum imports.
With this move, US industry reportedly aims to shield itself from competition from state-run enterprises in countries including Russia, Canada and Kazakhstan.
However, the timing of the potential investigation remains unclear, Bloomberg reported, adding that an uranium probe would add to global trade tensions that the IMF warns represents a colossal risk to the global economy.
"The global uranium market is not a level playing field," Paul Goranson, chief operating officer of Energy Fuels, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg. "It puts the country at a real risk, because we're increasingly dependent on these state-owned companies which obviously have different global strategic objectives than we do."
"US uranium concentrate production totaled 2.44 million pounds in 2017, down 16% from 2016 and the lowest annual total since 2.28 million pounds of uranium concentrate was produced in 2004," the release said.
A large portion of domestic uranium concentrate did not come from the United States' only operating uranium mill in the state of Utah, but from alternate sources, including conversion facilities and clean-up sites.
Canada and Kazakhstan are reportedly the main uranium suppliers for the US, each accounting for about a quarter of the total, followed by Australia, Russia and Uzbekistan.
