Purchases reportedly jumped after an attempt to ban the country’s nuclear fuel

The US imported $1.2 billion worth of Russian uranium last year, the most ever on record, RIA Novosti reported on Thursday, citing official statistics.

In December, the US Congress tried to introduce a ban on imports of Russian uranium as part of the sanctions campaign against Moscow over the Ukraine conflict.

The bill stalled in the Senate, but purchases of Russian uranium jumped two-fold during that month to $193.2 million, RIA Novosti writes. As a result, the total value of shipments for the year increased by 43%, hitting a new record of $1.2 billion, the agency added.

According to the report, Russia has remained America’s top supplier of uranium in terms of monetary value. Based on volume, it is the fourth-largest supplier to the US, with Canada in the top spot, according to calculations provided by S&P Global.

The US has its own deposits of uranium, but they are not sufficient to supply the country’s nuclear power sector. Russia has the world’s largest uranium enrichment complex, accounting for almost half of the global capacity. According to some estimates, it would take at least five years of heavy investment for the US to break its dependence on Russian imports of enriched uranium used to fuel nuclear reactors.

According to the Department of Energy, nuclear power contributes nearly 20% of the electricity generated in America.

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