Enlarge / Rail trucks loaded with uranium ore wait for transportation at the uranium mine operated by Geam, a division of Diamo S.P. mining company, in Rozna, Czech Republic, on Monday, Dec. 13, 2010. Photographer: Vladimir Weiss/Bloomberg via Getty Images (credit: Getty Images) This week, the US Department of Commerce opened an investigation into the nature of uranium imports, ostensibly with an eye to imposing tariffs on ore and other uranium products. Uranium is used in the production of nuclear energy, and currently only five percent of uranium used in the US nuclear energy industry comes from the US.