Russia signed $1 billion worth of contracts on Tuesday to supply uranium to US companies from 2014, a landmark deal that Moscow hopes will drive sales of nuclear fuel in the United States. Russia's Techsnabexport (Tenex) signed the deal with Fuelco, a company founded by Californian utility Pacific Gas and Electric Co, a unit of PG&E Corp, Luminant and a unit of Ameren Corp.
"We worked for over five years to make this happen. This fuel will provide energy for 5 million American homes," Fuelco President Bruce Hamilton told reporters in Moscow after the signing.
Russia, one of the world's biggest sellers of uranium enrichment services, currently sells the United States only uranium recovered from dismantled Russian nuclear weapons under a programme known as "megatons to megawatts". Those sales are carried out through US uranium trader USEC Inc. All other sales of uranium to US companies have been subject to US anti-dumping measures but Moscow and Washington signed a deal last year to allow direct sales to other US firms.