openpolitics.com

Uranium ore is mined in many countries. But about 70 percent of world production comes from just three countries: Kazakhstan (almost 40 percent), Canada (over 20 percent) and Australia (nearly 10 percent). Of 68,000 tons mined annually, most goes to nuclear power utilities in some 30 countries.

American utilities buy nearly one-third of global uranium output. But mining in the United States accounts for only 2 percent of that total. That means that operators of American nuclear reactors get about 90 percent of their nuclear fuel from foreign sources.

.. Because American mining yields only 2 percent of world output, and under 10 percent of that comes from the Uranium One license, the allegation that this was a major prize for the Russians turns out to be absurd: Less than one-fifth of 1 percent of global output comes from Uranium One’s holdings in the United States.

.. Under a plan called “Megatons to Megawatts,” the Russian government took uranium for 20,000 Soviet-era nuclear warheads, converted it for nuclear power generation, then sold it to American utilities as fuel for some 100 reactors that produce nearly 20 percent of domestic electricity.

The plan ran for 20 years, and in most of that period provided nearly half of the uranium used in United States reactors. This meant that one out of every 10 American light bulbs were powered by fissile material once contained in nuclear warheads aimed at the United States and its allies.