japan's nuclear power restarts / trade deficit, page-7

From 1993 through early this year, over 470 metric tons of Russian warhead grade HEU (high enriched uranium) has been converted in Russia to 13,600 metric tons of LEU (low enriched uranium) and sold to the US for use as fuel in American nuclear power plants. During the 20-year Megatons to Megawatts program, as much as 10 percent of the electricity produced in the US was generated by fuel fabricated using LEU from the Megatons to Megawatts program. The past quarter has seen the long awaited final shipment of low energy uranium under the program with the agreement scheduled to expire later this year.

There are a quite a number of new reactors under construction globally. (http://web.archive.org/web/20081025172411/http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/nuc_reactors/china/outlook.html) Despite an emerging wave of future demand, the temporary closure of reactors in Japan and the permanent closure of reactors in Germany, account for about 12% and 4% of historical demand respectively. But taking into the account the gradual restarting of reactors in Japan likely to commence next year, this adverse effect could diminish quite quickly.