[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 180 (Wednesday, September 16, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57824-57832]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-20500]


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DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

International Trade Administration

[A-821-802]


Draft Amendment to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping 
Investigation on Uranium From the Russian Federation; Request for 
Comment

AGENCY: Enforcement and Compliance, International Trade Administration, 
Department of Commerce.
SUMMARY: The U.S. Department of Commerce (Commerce) and State Atomic 
Energy Corporation Rosatom (Rosatom) have initialed a draft amendment 
to the Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium 
from the Russian Federation (Agreement). The draft amendment will allow 
the Russian Federation to export Russian uranium products to the United 
States in accordance with the export limits and other terms detailed in 
the amendment. Commerce is inviting interested parties, industrial 
users, and the public to comment on the text of the draft amendment to 
the Agreement.

DATES:  Applicable September 11, 2020. Comments are due by 5:00 p.m. 
Eastern Time on September 28, 2020.

ADDRESSES: All submissions to Commerce must be filed electronically 
using Enforcement and Compliance's Antidumping Duty and Countervailing 
Duty Centralized Electronic Service System (ACCESS). ACCESS is 
available to registered users at https://access.trade.gov. See the 
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION for additional details.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Sally C. Gannon or Jill Buckles, 
Bilateral Agreements Unit, Enforcement and Compliance, International 
Trade Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1401 Constitution 
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20230; telephone: (202) 482-0162 or (202) 
482-6230, respectively.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Background

    On October 16, 1992, Commerce signed an agreement with the Russian 
Federation's Ministry for Atomic Energy (MINATOM), the predecessor to 
Rosatom, under section 734(l) of the Tariff Act of 1930, as amended 
(the Act), suspending the antidumping duty investigation on uranium 
from the Russian Federation.\1\ There have been five amendments to the 
Agreement, the most recent of which was signed on February 1, 2008.\2\ 
On February 22, 2019, Commerce formally opened consultations with 
Rosatom with respect to a possible extension of the Agreement's 
term.\3\
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    \1\ See Antidumping; Uranium from Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, 
Russia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan; Suspension of 
Investigations and Amendment of Preliminary Determinations, 57 FR 
49220, 49235 (October 30, 1992).
    \2\ See Amendment to Agreement Suspending the Antidumping 
Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation, 59 FR 15373 
(April 1, 1994); Amendments to the Agreement Suspending the 
Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation, 61 
FR 56665 (November 4, 1996); Amendment to Agreement Suspending the 
Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian Federation, 62 
FR 37879 (July 15, 1997); and Amendment to the Agreement Suspending 
the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from the Russian 
Federation, 73 FR 7705 (February 11, 2008).
    \3\ See Letter to Rosatom from P. Lee Smith, Deputy Assistant 
Secretary for Policy & Negotiations, ``Consultations on the 
Agreement Suspending the Antidumping Investigation on Uranium from 
the Russian Federation,'' dated February 22, 2019.
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Draft Amendment

    On September 11, 2020, Commerce and Rosatom initialed a draft 
amendment to the Agreement. The draft amendment allows for exports of 
Russian uranium products to the United States in accordance with the 
export limits and other terms detailed in the amendment. In general, 
the draft amendment will reduce U.S. reliance on imports of uranium 
from Russia over the long term. Under the current Agreement, Russian 
uranium exports are limited to approximately 20 percent of U.S. 
enrichment demand. Under the draft amended Agreement, the export limits 
will be equivalent to 24 percent of U.S. enrichment demand in 2021, 20 
percent in 2022, 24 percent in 2023, 20 percent per year from 2024 to 
2027, and 15 percent per year from 2028 to 2040. (Export limits are to 
be calculated on the basis of the World Nuclear Association's Lower 
Scenario, a 4.4 percent product assay, and a 0.3 percent tails assay.) 
These figures correspond to an average of approximately 17 percent over 
the next 20 years.
    The draft amendment to the Agreement also strengthens existing 
protections for the U.S. commercial enrichment industry, by extending 
and reducing the Agreement's export limits, as discussed above.
    The draft amendment to the Agreement establishes protections for 
U.S. uranium miners and the U.S. uranium converter by limiting sales of 
enriched uranium product (EUP) and sales of enrichment (i.e., 
separative work units, or SWU) plus conversion under the export limits. 
Under the draft amendment, the cap on exports pursuant to EUP sales is 
equivalent to 15 percent of U.S. enrichment demand in 2021, 9.8 percent 
in 2022, 10.2 percent in 2023, 5.7 percent in 2024, 5.3 percent in 
2025, and 5 percent per year from 2026 to 2040. The cap for additional 
exports pursuant to sales of SWU plus conversion is equivalent to 1 
percent of U.S. enrichment demand in 2021, approximately 3 percent from 
2022 to 2025, and zero percent from 2026 to 2040. These figures 
correspond to an average of 7 percent of U.S. enrichment demand for the 
combined

[[Page 57825]]

EUP and SWU plus conversion limits over the 20-year period. The current 
Agreement contains no limits on sales of EUP or SWU plus conversion, 
other than the general export limits (which are equivalent to 
approximately 20 percent of U.S. enrichment demand, as noted above).
    The draft amendment includes updated provisions with respect to 
natural uranium returned or provided by U.S. customers to the Russian 
exporter pursuant to sales of enrichment (i.e., ``returned feed''). The 
draft amendment fixes ``returned feed'' provisions in the existing 
Agreement that are detrimental to U.S. uranium miners and the U.S. 
converter. Specifically, under the current Agreement, foreign-origin 
returned feed can be delivered to the Russian exporter, enriched in 
Western Europe, and then exported to the United States outside the 
Agreement's export limits. The draft amended Agreement would require 
foreign-origin returned feed that is enriched or sold in third 
countries to be subject to the Agreement's export limits if exported 
back to the United States.
    The export limits and other caps in the draft amendment are 
generally structured to allow U.S. customers to fulfill preexisting 
contractual obligations to purchase Russian uranium products.
    The full text of the draft amendment to the Agreement follows in 
the Annex to this notice with the exception of Appendix 5 which 
contains business proprietary information and is releasable only under 
the Administrative Protective Order (APO).

Comment Period

    Commerce invites interested parties to comment on the text of the 
draft amendment to the Agreement. In addition, industrial users such as 
utility companies, and the public, may also comment on the text of the 
draft amendment. Comments are due by 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time on 
September 28, 2020. Commerce will consider all comments received by the 
due date, and will formally address all timely filed comments from 
interested parties for purposes of a final amendment to the Agreement.
    All information provided to Commerce will be subject to release 
under APO and should be submitted in accordance with 19 CFR 351.103 and 
19 CFR 351.105 of Commerce's regulations, including the service of 
copies of comments on interested parties to this proceeding. The APO 
and public service lists in this proceeding can be found in ACCESS. 
Commerce will consider all comments received by the close of the 
comment period.

    Dated: September 11, 2020.
Jeffrey I. Kessler,
Assistant Secretary for Enforcement and Compliance.
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[FR Doc. 2020-20500 Filed 9-14-20; 11:15 am]
BILLING CODE 3510-DS-C