[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 214 (Monday, November 4, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 56665-56667]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-28246]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE
[A-821-802]


Amendments to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping 
Investigation on Uranium From the Russian Federation

AGENCY: Import Administration, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.

ACTION: Notice of amendments to the agreement suspending the 
antidumping investigation on uranium from the Russian Federation.

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SUMMARY: The Department of Commerce (the Department) and the Ministry 
of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation (MINATOM) have signed two 
amendments to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on 
Uranium from the Russian Federation, as amended (the Suspension 
Agreement). One amendment provides for the sale in the United States of 
feed associated with imports of low-enriched uranium (LEU) derived from 
high-enriched uranium (HEU) which makes the Suspension Agreement 
consistent with the USEC Privatization Act. The second amendment 
restores previously unused quota for separative work units, and covers 
Russian uranium which has been enriched in a third country within the 
terms of the Suspension Agreement, for a period of two years from the 
effective date of the amendments.

EFFECTIVE DATE: October 3, 1996.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
James Doyle, Sally C. Gannon, or Karla Whalen, Office of Antidumping 
Countervailing Duty Enforcement, Group 3, Office 7, Import 
Administration, International Trade Administration, U.S. Department of 
Commerce, 14th Street and Constitution Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 
20230; telephone: (202) 482-0172, (202) 482-1391, or (202) 482-0408, 
respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

Background

    On October 16, 1992, the Department and the GRF signed the 
Suspension Agreement on uranium and, on October 30, 1992, the Agreement 
was published in the Federal Register (57 FR 49220, 49235). On March 
11, 1994, the Department and the GRF signed an amendment to the 
Suspension Agreement on uranium and, on April 1, 1994, this amendment 
was published in the Federal Register (59 FR 15373). This amendment 
provided for entry of Russian uranium into the United States based on a 
concept of matched sales between the United States and Russian 
producers. Although this amendment has operated to the benefit of all 
parties concerned, substantial qualities of uranium products not 
subject to the Suspension Agreement which were produced from Russian 
ore began to undermine the Suspension Agreement. Thus, pursuant to 
Section X.B. of the Suspension Agreement, the Department and the GRF 
entered into consultations. A proposed amendment providing for coverage 
of Russian ore which has been enriched in a third country was 
initialled on August 16, 1996. In addition, on August 16, 1996, the 
Department and the GRF initialled an amendment in order to allow HEU 
feed \1\ to be used in matched sales.\2\ The Department subsequently 
released the proposed amendments to interested parties for comment. 
After careful consideration by the Department of the comments submitted 
and further consultations between the two parties, the Department and 
the GRF signed the final amendments on October 3, 1996.

[[Page 56666]]

The text of these amendments follow in the Annex to this notice.

    \1\ HEU feed refers to the natural uranium feed associated with 
the LEU (derived from HEU), which is imported pursuant to the 
Agreement Between the Government of the United States of America and 
the Government of the Russian Federation Concerning the Disposition 
of Highly Enriched Uranium Extracted from Nuclear Weapons (The HEU 
Agreement), signed February 18, 1993.
    \2\ A third amendment dealing with the re-export provision was 
initialled on August 16, 1996 as well, but this amendment has not 
yet been finalized.
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    Dated: October 24, 1996.
Robert S. LaRussa,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

Annex

(Amendment Regarding HEU Feed)

Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on 
Uranium From the Russian Federation

    Consistent with the requirement of Section 734(l) of the U.S. 
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended, to prevent the suppression or 
undercutting of price levels of domestic products in the United States, 
Section IV of the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on 
Uranium from the Russian Federation, as amended on March 11, 1994, (the 
Agreement) is amended as set forth below. All other provisions of the 
Agreement, particularly Section VII, remain in force and apply to this 
Amendment.
    1. Section IV.M.2 is replaced with:
    2. Exports pursuant to such sales will not be counted against the 
export limits established in accordance with this Section IV. 
Permitting importation and disposition of the HEU, or LEU derived from 
the HEU, is consistent with the purposes of this Agreement, subject to 
the following requirements: (1) The HEU or LEU must be disposed of by 
DOE or the United States Executive Agent(s) consistent with the 
Agreement between the Government of the United States of America and 
the Government of the Russian Federation Concerning the Disposition of 
Highly Enriched Uranium Extracted from Nuclear Weapons; (2) Uranium 
products deemed to be of Russian origin pursuant to section 3112(b) of 
P.L. 104-134, the USEC Privatization Act, must be sold only in 
accordance with section 3112(b) and the relevant provisions of this 
Agreement, as amended; (3) Contracts for the purchase of the HEU or LEU 
must be provided to the Department; and (4) Annual summaries of 
disposition of the HEU and LEU, and uranium products deemed to be of 
Russian origin pursuant to section 3112(b) of P.L. 104-134, the USEC 
Privatization Act, must be provided to the Department.
    2. Paragraph two of Section IV of the Agreement is amended as 
follows:
    Sentence two, beginning ``For purposes of this Section, Russian-
origin means,'' is replaced by:
    For purposes of this Section, Russian-origin means natural uranium 
(i.e. U3O8 or UF6) or SWU which is produced in Russia 
and exported from Russia for the first time after March 11, 1994, or 
uranium hexafluoride (and U3O8 derived therefrom) deemed to 
be of Russian origin pursuant to section 3112(b) of P.L. 104-134, the 
USEC Privatization Act.
    The Parties agree that this Amendment constitutes an integral part 
of the Agreement.
    The English language version of this Amendment shall be 
controlling.

    Signed on this 27th day of September, 1996.

    For the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation:
N. N. Yegorov,
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation.
    Signed on this 3rd day of October, 1996.

    For the United States Department of Commerce:
(Joseph A. Spetrini, for)
Robert S. LaRussa,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.

(Amendment Regarding Russian Uranium Enriched in a Third Country Prior 
to Entry Into the United States and the Separative Work Unit Quota)

Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on 
Uranium From the Russian Federation

    Consistent with the requirement of Section 734(1) of the U.S. 
Tariff Act of 1930, as amended (the Act) to prevent the suppression or 
undercutting of price levels of domestic products in the United States, 
Sections III, IV, VII, X, and Attachment 1 of the Agreement Suspending 
the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation, 
as amended on March 11, 1994 (the Agreement), are amended as set forth 
below. All other provisions of the Agreement, particularly Section VII, 
remain in force and apply to this Amendment.
    1. Section III, ``Product Coverage,'' is amended as follows:
    The second paragraph of Section III, beginning ``Uranium ore * * 
*,'' is replaced by:
    Further, uranium ore from Russia that is milled into U3O8 
and/or converted into UF6 and/or enriched in U 235 in another 
country prior to direct and/or indirect importation into the United 
States is considered uranium from Russia and is subject to the terms of 
this Agreement. When imported as enriched uranium (excluding highly 
enriched uranium (HEU) and LEU derived from HEU, imported pursuant to 
Section IV.M of this Agreement and subject to the provisions of the 
USEC Privatization Act, P.L. 104-134), the full amount of the natural 
uranium equivalent required to produce the enriched product will be 
counted against the existing quota under this Agreement. For the 
purposes of calculating this amount of natural uranium, the terms of 
the last bullet of definition II (a) shall apply unless otherwise 
reported.
    The second sentence in the third paragraph of Section III, 
beginning ``Uranium enriched in U 235 in another country * * *,'' 
is deleted.
    2. Paragraph D of Section VII, ``Anticircumvention,'' is amended as 
follows:
    D. In addition to the above requirements, the Department shall 
direct the U.S. Customs Service to require all importers of uranium 
into the United States, regardless of stated country of origin, to 
submit at the time of entry written statements certifying the 
following:
    (A) The country(ies) in which the ore was mined and, if applicable, 
converted, enriched, and/or fabricated (unless for use as a fuel 
assembly in the United States as fabricated), for all imports; and
    (B) That the uranium being imported was not obtained under any 
arrangement, swap, or other exchange designed to circumvent the export 
limits for uranium of Russian origin established by this agreement.
    Where there is reason to believe that such a certification has been 
made falsely, the Department will refer the matter to Customs or the 
Department of Justice for further action.
    The Department and MINATOM reaffirm that an export certificate 
endorsed by the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations (MFER) is 
required as a condition of entry into the United States. Under no 
circumstances will uranium from the Russian Federation be allowed entry 
into the United States without an authorized export certificate 
allowing importation into the United States.
    3. Paragraph one of Section IV.A of the Agreement, as amended on 
March 11, 1994, is amended as follows:
     Sentence five, beginning ``Because the annual matching SWU 
quota expires,'' is deleted, and replaced with ``The SWU available for 
matching under this section which was not matched by March 31, 1996, 
1,608,840 SWU, may be sold through matched sales at any time on or 
before [the date two years after the effective date of this Amendment]. 
After that date, no further matched SWU sales will be allowed.''
     Sentence six, beginning ``However,'' is deleted, and 
replaced with the following: ``However, the matching

[[Page 56667]]

SWU sold during 1994 and 1995, as well as on or before [the date two 
years after the effective date of this Amendment], may be delivered at 
any time during the life of the relevant matched sales contract.''
    5. Attachment 1 is amended as follows:
    Add footnote 2 to the ``2,000,000'' volumes in the ``SWU'' column 
for the years 1994 and 1995. Footnote 2 shall read:
    Beginning on the effective date of this Amendment, the remaining 
SWU quota from 1994 and 1995, 1,608,840 SWU, may be used for matched 
sales consistent with Section IV.A of this Agreement.
    6. Section X., Consultations, is amended by adding the following:
    C. No later than [the date one year after the effective date of 
this Amendment], the Department and MINATOM shall enter into 
consultations toward the consideration of a possible successor plan for 
containing their cooperative efforts on the issues addressed by this 
amendment.
    These modifications to Sections III, IV, VII, X, and Attachment 1 
will remain in effect until [the date two years after the effective 
date of this Amendment].
    The Parties agree that this Amendment constitutes an integral part 
of the Agreement.
    The English language version of this Amendment shall be 
controlling.

    Signed on this 27th day of September, 1996.

    For the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation:
N.N. Yegorov,
Deputy Minister, Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation.
    Signed on this 3rd day of October, 1996.

    For the United States Department of Commerce:
(Joseph A. Spetrini, for)
Robert S. LaRussa,
Acting Assistant Secretary for Import Administration.
[FR Doc. 96-28246 Filed 11-1-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-M