BWX Technologies, Inc. announced that its Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS) subsidiary has been awarded a $428 million contract from the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to provide purification and conversion services for highly enriched uranium (HEU).
Located in Erwin, Tennessee, NFS is one of only two Category I nuclear facilities licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to store and process HEU. Under this five-year contract, NFS will establish a process line inside the facility before initiating conversion and purification operations.
Prior to this award, NFS successfully completed a $57.5 million “Phase I” contract that began in 2021. The Phase I contract required NFS to design a process line and demonstrate that it could convert uranium oxide to purified uranium metal while meeting the NNSA’s precise specifications, which required certain license amendments through the NRC. The license amendment is expected to be finalized later in 2023.
“Under the first phase of the contract, NFS proved that it could meet the rigorous requirements outlined by the NNSA,” said Sharon Smoot, BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. president. “The conversion process is similar to other work we currently perform, and we are confident that we will meet the demands of Phase II of the contract while maintaining a strong focus on safety and quality.”
The NNSA is responsible for the nation’s enriched uranium inventory, which supports numerous national security missions, including NNSA’s Office of Defense Programs, Naval Reactors and Defense Nuclear Nonproliferation Programs. The oxide-to-metal purification and conversion has historically been performed at the NNSA’s Y-12 National Security Complex (Y-12). Y-12 is currently modernizing its facilities, making it necessary for NFS to provide these services until Y-12 re-establishes this capability. The NNSA will provide enriched uranium oxide to NFS for purification and conversion and plans to return the purified metal back to Y-12 for storage and future use. This Phase II contract will also allow NFS to use portions of the purification and conversion line to produce fuel feedstock for potential use by Naval Reactors.
