美国厂商恳请特朗普限制铀进口

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.

两家美国国内铀生产商正恳请唐纳德?特朗普(Donald Trump)以美国国家安全为由，限制来自俄罗斯和中亚的进口。它们辩称，美国已丧失了满足本国核武库、海军舰艇和发电厂的需求的能力。

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 在提交给美国能源部的一份请愿书中表示，来自哈萨克斯坦、俄罗斯和乌兹别克斯坦的国有生产商的竞争已严重削弱了美国的铀矿行业。它们还警告称，中国正在变成一个日益重要的铀生产国和出口国。

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.

周二晚间，这两家位于科罗拉多州的公司引用一项很少用到的1962年法令，提交了申请。这项法令向美国总统授予了以国家安全为由采取贸易限制措施的广泛权限。

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

根据美国法律，如果一个“相关方”提出调查要求，那么美国商务部必须发起调查。

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 声称，俄罗斯以及上述两个曾同属苏联的邻国的得到政府补贴的生产商一直在低价向美国市场倾销铀产品，抢走了美国企业的生意。它们辩称，随着中国成为一个日益重要的玩家，这种局面只可能变得更糟糕。

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.

这两家公司辩称，海外公司大举挺进美国市场，造成了美国国内核工业的危机，对美国国家安全产生影响。它们表示，“这个国家不再拥有为国防目的而浓缩铀的国内能力，美国老化中的核武库需要更新。”

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.

这两家公司希望特朗普政府在国家需求中为国内生产商留出25%的配额，相当于每年1100万磅。Ur-Energy 负责监管事务的副总裁约翰?卡什(John Cash)称，去年国内生产商的铀开采量为140万磅至150万磅，但它们认为，美国境内拥有充足的资源，可支持把开采量提高6倍。

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

根据美国能源情报署(Energy Information Administration)的数据，2014年国内供应商的浓缩铀产量曾接近500万磅。