Russian investigation

The U.S. House of Representatives is now opening an investigation into the sale of a Canadian company (Uranium One), which owned 20 percent of U.S. uranium resources, to a Russian entity in 2010. The sale was approved by CIFUS, which consists of nine voting members from various government departments and agencies and five observers, after determining it had no detrimental effect on national security. To see why they came to this conclusion, all you have to do is look at the context of the sale.

The U.S., according to the World Nuclear Association, has only 1 percent (62,900 tons) of known recoverable resources of uranium. A 20 percent sale of our uranium is minuscule and would not affect the security of the U.S., which already imports 90 percent of uranium needed for nuclear requirements. At the time of CIFUS’ approval, the U.S. and Russia were already involved in the Megatons for Megawatts program in which the Russians converted bomb-grade uranium into nuclear fuel for power plants which the U.S. would buy. For two decades this fuel provided 10 percent of electricity used in this country.

If this committee is actually concerned about the sale of U.S. uranium resources to foreign countries, why aren’t they investigating how Uranium One obtained 20 percent of our uranium ore in 2007 to begin with? It seems the answer is this committee is not concerned about national security, but rather to get something—anything—on Hillary or Obama. KENNETH R. WEBER

Bella Vista