The nexus between Russian uranium exports and US nuclear-energy consumption: Do the spillover effects of geopolitical risks matter?

Geopolitical risks significantly impact global energy consumption, hindering material trade and influencing policy decisions. Specifically, the Russian uranium supply for US nuclear energy production faces geopolitical risks despite being exempt from ongoing sanctions imposed by Western and European entities during the Russia-Ukraine conflict. We investigate the effect of global, Russian, and US geopolitical risks on US nuclear-energy consumption driven by Russian uranium exports from January 1996 to December 2019. The cross-quantilogram analysis reveals a negative influence of global geopolitical risks on Russian uranium export-driven US nuclear-energy consumption in lower quantiles, and a positive effect in medium to upper quantiles under long memory. Interestingly, Russian geopolitical risks do not have any significant effect, while US geopolitical risks positively impact from the medium to upper quantiles in extended memory. Hence, our policy suggestion is solely concerned with adequately dealing with global geopolitical risks under the global governance platform to enhance worldwide uranium trade for nuclear energy consumption in the USA. • Studies global, Russian and US geopolitical risks' effects on Russian uranium export-driven US nuclear energy use. • Applies the cross-quantilogram and wavelet coherency analysis approaches. • Finds global geopolitical risks' negative impact on Russian uranium export-driven US nuclear energy use. • Russian own geopolitical risks have no significant effect on Russian uranium export-driven US nuclear energy use. • US geopolitical risks affects Russian uranium export-driven US nuclear power consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]