美國廠商懇請特朗普限制鈾進口

Two domestic uranium producers are asking Donald Trump to crack down on imports from Russia and central Asia in the name of US national security, arguing the country has lost its ability to meet the needs of its nuclear weapons stockpile, naval vessels and power plants.

兩家美國國內鈾生產商正懇請唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)以美國國家安全爲由，限制來自俄羅斯和中亞的進口。它們辯稱，美國已喪失了滿足本國核武庫、海軍艦艇和發電廠的需求的能力。

In a petition filed with the US commerce department, Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy said the US industry had been decimated by competition from state-backed producers in Kazakhstan, Russia and Uzbekistan. They also warned that China was emerging as an increasingly important uranium producer and exporter.

Energy Fuels 和Ur-Energy 在提交給美國能源部的一份請願書中表示，來自哈薩克斯坦、俄羅斯和烏茲別克斯坦的國有生產商的競爭已嚴重削弱了美國的鈾礦行業。它們還警告稱，中國正在變成一個日益重要的鈾生產國和出口國。

The two Colorado-based companies filed their request late on Tuesday using a rarely employed 1962 statute that gives US presidents wide latitude to impose trade restrictions in the name of US national security.

週二晚間，這兩家位於科羅拉多州的公司引用一項很少用到的1962年法令，提交了申請。這項法令向美國總統授予了以國家安全爲由採取貿易限制措施的廣泛權限。

Under US law the Department of Commerce must launch an investigation if an “interested party” requests one.

根據美國法律，如果一個“相關方”提出調查要求，那麼美國商務部必須發起調查。

Energy Fuels and Ur-Energy claim that state-subsidised producers in Russia and its two former Soviet neighbours have been putting US producers out of business by flooding the market with cheap uranium. That situation, they argue, is only likely to get worse as China becomes a more important player.

Energy Fuels 和Ur-Energy 聲稱，俄羅斯以及上述兩個曾同屬蘇聯的鄰國的得到政府補貼的生產商一直在低價向美國市場傾銷鈾產品，搶走了美國企業的生意。它們辯稱，隨着中國成爲一個日益重要的玩家，這種局面只可能變得更糟糕。

The overseas push into the US had led to a crisis in the domestic nuclear industry with implications for US national security, the companies argued. “The nation no longer has any domestic capability to enrich uranium for defence purposes, and its ageing nuclear stockpile needs renewal,” they said.

這兩家公司辯稱，海外公司大舉挺進美國市場，造成了美國國內核工業的危機，對美國國家安全產生影響。它們表示，“這個國家不再擁有爲國防目的而濃縮鈾的國內能力，美國老化中的核武庫需要更新。”

The companies want the Trump administration to set aside a quota of 25 per cent of US demand for domestic producers, or what would be the equivalent of 11m pounds a year. According to John Cash, vice-president of regulatory affairs for Ur-Energy, domestic producers last year mined 1.4m-1.5m pounds of uranium but the companies believe that enough resources exist in the US to meet the seven-fold increase in production.

這兩家公司希望特朗普政府在國家需求中爲國內生產商留出25%的配額，相當於每年1100萬磅。Ur-Energy 負責監管事務的副總裁約翰?卡什(John Cash)稱，去年國內生產商的鈾開採量爲140萬磅至150萬磅，但它們認爲，美國境內擁有充足的資源，可支持把開採量提高6倍。

According to US Energy Information Agency data, domestic suppliers produced almost 5m pounds of uranium concentrate as recently as 2014.

根據美國能源情報署(Energy Information Administration)的數據，2014年國內供應商的濃縮鈾產量曾接近500萬磅。