A group of Republican senators is pushing a bill that would add uranium to the list of Russian energy products that America stops importing in order to punish strongman Vladimir Putin for his invasion of Ukraine.

The measure, sponsored by Republicans from western states with significant uranium reserves, would add the radioactive element essential to the production of nuclear power to the list of banned Russian imports along with oil, gas, and coal.

“Every dollar we send to Russia is a dollar used to continue to attack innocent people in Ukraine,” one of the measure’s sponsors, Senator Lummis, said. “Wyoming has more than enough uranium to fill this gap, and we can mine it in a more environmentally friendly and safe way.”

Along with Ms. Lummis, the measure is sponsored by Senator Barrasso, also of Wyoming, Senator Marshall of Kansas, and Senator Cramer of North Dakota.

In a statement, the senators noted that America currently imports as much as half of the uranium it needs from Russia and its allies, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Shoring up domestic supplies, they said, is a national security issue and should be part of any plans to increase America’s energy independence.

“​​Our uranium import dependence is a case study in how our vital domestic minerals supply chains have atrophied to levels that result in a dire national security risk,” the president and CEO of the National Mining Association trade group, Rich Nolan, said. “We are home to the world’s largest fleet of nuclear power plants, significant uranium reserves, and yet we import virtually all of the uranium we use.”

Mr. Barrasso has long advocated decoupling America from its dependence on Russian uranium. In particular, he was a staunch opponent of an Obama-era deal that saw the sale of a Canadian company with significant stakes in U.S. uranium mines, Uranium One, to Russian interests. The sale gave Russians control of one-fifth of all uranium production capacity in the United States.

In a 2015 letter to the treasury secretary, Jacob Lew, Mr. Barrasso expressed reservations about the national security implications of the deal, “especially with the recent revelations that foreign funds may have been used to influence the decision in the case.”

Mr. Barrasso was referring to reports that the Uranium One sale to Rosatom, the Russian atomic energy agency, was approved by a panel of government agencies that included the State Department, then headed by Hillary Clinton.

Investigators later came to find out that some of the principals involved in the Uranium One-Rosatom deal were major contributors to the Clinton Foundation, a charity founded by President Clinton after he left office. 

The allegations that the Clintons materially benefitted from the Uranium One deal first surfaced in a 2016 book by Peter Schweizer titled, “Clinton Cash: The Untold Story of How and Why Foreign Governments and Businesses Helped Make Bill and Hillary Rich.” They were corroborated by other media outlets, including the New York Times.

The book reported that Uranium One’s Canadian chairman used his family foundation to make donations totaling $2.35 million to the Clinton Foundation as the Russians slowly completed their takeover of the company between 2009 and 2013. The donations were not disclosed by the foundation, despite assurances from the Clintons to the Obama administration that all donors would be identified publicly.

Additionally, the book said, Mr. Clinton was paid $500,000 for a speech in Moscow by a Russian investment bank connected to the Kremlin that was championing the Uranium One deal shortly after Russian officials made known their intentions to acquire the company.

The Uranium One issue surfaced in 2015 when Mrs. Clinton was running for president opposite Donald Trump. At the time, a spokesman for her campaign called the allegations of impropriety “baseless” and said the candidate never took action while secretary of state to benefit donors to her family’s foundation.

Multiple investigations in the years since have provided no evidence of impropriety on the part of Mrs. Clinton or the foundation. However, the special counsel appointed during the Trump administration to investigate the origins of a federal probe into the former president’s connections to Russia, John H. Durham, has reportedly been asking questions about the Clinton Foundation as part of his inquiry. So far nothing has emerged from his office on the topic.

An earlier investigation into the foundation dating back to 2015 and the Obama administration never went anywhere because, in part, investigators saw the case as too weak to proceed. Another, separate investigation by prosecutors in Arkansas also petered out.

Uranium One’s assets in America were purchased by the Texas-based Uranium Energy Corporation in late 2021, making UEC the largest American uranium mining company, with operations in Wyoming and South Texas.