美國廠商懇請?zhí)乩势障拗柒欉M(jìn)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(nèi)鈾生產(chǎn)商正懇請?zhí)萍{德•特朗普(Donald Trump)以美國國家安全為由，限制來自俄羅斯和中亞的進(jìn)口。它們辯稱，美國已喪失了滿足本國核武庫、海軍艦艇和發(fā)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愿書中表示，來自哈薩克斯坦、俄羅斯和烏茲別克斯坦的國有生產(chǎn)商的競爭已嚴(yán)重削弱了美國的鈾礦行業(yè)。它們還警告稱，中國正在變成一個日益重要的鈾生產(chǎn)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.

周二晚間，這兩家位于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(tǒng)授予了以國家安全為由采取貿(mào)易限制措施的廣泛權(quán)限。

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

根據(jù)美國法律，如果一個“相關(guān)方”提出調(diào)查要求，那么美國商務(wù)部必須發(fā)起調(diào)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(lián)的鄰國的得到政府補貼的生產(chǎn)商一直在低價向美國市場傾銷鈾產(chǎn)品，搶走了美國企業(yè)的生意。它們辯稱，隨著中國成為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(jìn)美國市場，造成了美國國內(nèi)核工業(yè)的危機，對美國國家安全產(chǎn)生影響。它們表示，“這個國家不再擁有為國防目的而濃縮鈾的國內(nèi)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為國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)商留出25%的配額，相當(dāng)于每年1100萬磅。Ur-Energy 負(fù)責(zé)監(jiān)管事務(wù)的副總裁約翰•卡什(John Cash)稱，去年國內(nèi)生產(chǎn)商的鈾開采量為140萬磅至150萬磅，但它們認(rèn)為，美國境內(nèi)擁有充足的資源，可支持把開采量提高6倍。

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

根據(jù)美國能源情報署(Energy Information Administration)的數(shù)據(jù)，2014年國內(nèi)供應(yīng)商的濃縮鈾產(chǎn)量曾接近500萬磅。