The US will open bidding next month for contracts worth as much as $3.4bn (€3.1bn) for the supply of domestically produced low-enriched uranium for nuclear reactor fuel, according to a government notice.

Around $2.7bn of the funding comes from a broader plan to wean the nation off nuclear fuel imported from Russia and forms part of a strategy to help restart domestic nuclear fuel production by making direct purchases of the low-enriched uranium used in reactors.

The $2.7bn was unlocked after president Joe Biden signed a ban on 13 May on imports of enriched uranium from Russia, which provides about a quarter of the reactor fuel in the US, making it the country’s top supplier.