BWXT Secures Contract to Advance Domestic Uranium Enrichment Pilot Plant

BWXT Technologies has won a contract from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to evaluate options for deploying a centrifuge pilot plant that could establish a new domestic uranium enrichment capability suitable for national security purposes.

The Lynchburg, Virginia–based company on Aug. 26 said the NNSA contract would kick off a yearlong engineering study as the next phase of the NNSA’s Domestic Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Experiment (DUECE), a 2016-initiated program that seeks to develop advanced centrifuge technology to produce adequate enriched uranium for defense needs.

DUECE falls under the NNSA’s Domestic Uranium Enrichment (DUE) program, under which the NNSA’s Office of Strategic Materials Production Modernization works to ensure a reliable supply of enriched uranium for national security missions, including for low-enriched uranium (LEU) to support tritium production and highly enriched uranium (HEU) to fuel naval nuclear propulsion.

As NNSA Administrator Jill Hruby noted during a speech at the East Tennessee Economic Council on Aug. 23, the U.S.’s imperative to reestablish a uranium enrichment program for defense purposes will focus on reclaiming “a capability lost at the end of the Cold War.” It stems from a broader strategy to modernize and revitalize the NNSA’s nuclear security infrastructure. The effort is essential to meet evolving global threats, she said.

In July, the Senate Armed Services Committee issued a report appended to the panel’s version of the 2025 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) that recommended requiring the Energy Secretary to identify and assess the viability of at least two (and up to four) possible locations that would, by 2035, be best suited for a “modular, scalable uranium enrichment facility.” The committee underscored concerns that the “inability of the U.S. to domestically produce unencumbered enriched uranium undermines the national security of the U.S. and that existing programs within the Department of Energy to explore various enrichment technologies are not advancing at an adequate pace.”

Given that the last government-owned enrichment facility, the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant, closed in 2013, the NNSA has set out to develop and demonstrate centrifuge technologies and better characterize their performance, reliability, and lifecycle costs. Since 2016, the semi-autonomous agency within the DOE has funded research and development of small centrifuge technology under the DUECE project.

As a first step, Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), which has developed and managed the DUECE project, is slated to demonstrate the technology in an engineering-scale cascade at an Oak Ridge, Tennessee facility. “Our priority is to produce LEU to fuel tritium-producing nuclear reactors,” Hruby said on Friday. “Eventually, DUECE technology will be deployed in a pilot plant to mature and characterize the technology.  Over the long term, we hope to leverage this pilot plant for future HEU production for naval nuclear propulsion,” she said.

The contract announced by BWXT on Monday will mark the start of a “deployment phase,” essentially kicking off an exploration of options for the centrifuge pilot plant’s deployment. The engineering study aims “to inform the acquisition approach for a pilot plant that will demonstrate the DUE centrifuge performance, reliability, and life-cycle costs for the NNSA. Fluor will be the engineering, procurement, and construction service provider for the activity,” BWXT said.

According to the NNSA’s statement of work published in April 2024, the study will be performed by a company that “has a demonstrated ability and willingness to deploy and operate this pilot plant at facilities or properties owned (or leased) and operated by the company.” It will entail a detailed analysis of potential sites for the pilot plant, including specific locations, existing facilities, equipment needs, and staffing requirements. In addition, the study is required to assess the benefits and risks associated with each option to ensure that the chosen approach remains adaptable to a range of future requirements and potential changes. The NNSA indicated that future phases could entail facility design and licensing, and construction and pilot operations, eventually transitioning to HEU production.

BWXT Marks Entry Into the Domestic Uranium Enrichment Market

BWXT, whose subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services Inc. will lead the engineering study, on Monday noted that the NNSA’s ongoing efforts will also play a significant role in maintaining and enhancing the U.S. uranium enrichment expertise and technology.

The DUECE project notably marks BWXT’s entry into the domestic uranium enrichment market. “Given BWXT’s unique nuclear operations infrastructure and NRC Category 1 uranium handling and processing licenses, this venture aligns well with BWXT’s long-standing strategy to expand its role in the national security nuclear fuel cycle,” said Kevin McCoy, president of BWXT Government Operations.

BWXT, already a major supplier of nuclear components and fuel to the U.S. government, is so far making headway on several Defense-related projects that could play a significant role as the market for advanced nuclear develops.

Under a flagship project with the Department of Defense’s (DOD’s) Strategic Capabilities Office (SCO), the company is working to manufacture and deliver Project Pele, a 1-MWe to 5 MWe terrestrial high-temperature gas reactor microreactor, with plans to deploy it at Idaho National Laboratory. Project Pele received full funding in the fiscal 2024 Defense Bill and is currently in the procurement phase. The Defense Supplemental Bill, signed into law in April, supports NASA and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s DRACO project, the first demonstration of a nuclear thermal rocket engine. DRACO’s nuclear thermal propulsion system will use high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU), and it is targeted for a 2027 launch.

As POWER recently reported, BWXT is collaborating with the Wyoming Energy Authority (WEA) and Burns & McDonnell to advance the design and development of the BWXT Advanced Nuclear Reactor (BANR). The 50-MWth microreactor has funding from the DOE’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program’s (ARDP’s) Risk Reduction program. According to BWXT, BANR holds the potential to provide cogeneration for military operations, data centers, and remote mining operations. The microreactor technology could also be applied to naval and space nuclear propulsion and power efforts, it says.

In July, BWXT also said it was evaluating locations for a potential new TRI-structural ISOtropic particle fuel (TRISO) nuclear fuel production facility in Wyoming. The announcement marked BWXT’s foray into manufacturing TRISO fuel to support the emerging advanced reactor market. 

—Sonal Patel is a POWER senior editor (@sonalcpatel, @POWERmagazine).