Sonal Patel reports in Power that BWXT is taking steps to advance domestic uranium enrichment.
- BWXT Technologies has been awarded a contract by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) to evaluate options for deploying a centrifuge pilot plant, aimed at establishing a new domestic uranium enrichment capability for national security purposes.
- The contract is part of the NNSA’s Domestic Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Experiment (DUECE) program, which seeks to develop advanced centrifuge technology to produce enriched uranium for defense needs, including low-enriched uranium for tritium production and highly enriched uranium for naval nuclear propulsion.
- BWXT is already major supplier of nuclear components and fuel to the U.S. government, but this contract marks its entry into the domestic uranium enrichment market.
“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.”
Read the full article here.
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