The U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program has awarded contracts to two BWX Technologies (BWXT) subsidiaries to manufacture naval nuclear reactor parts and fuel, the company announced Wednesday. The subsidiaries, Nuclear Operations Group and Nuclear Fuel Services, received the contracts with options worth a total of approximately $3.1 billion; the former is responsible for the reactor components portion, while the latter handles the naval nuclear fuel. BWXT said it has received about $1.2 billion of the award this year and expects to receive the remaining amount over the next two years.
The Nuclear Operations Group’s naval nuclear reactor manufacturing work will support Ford-class carrier and Virginia-class submarine construction, Nimitz-class carrier refueling, and preliminary Ohio-class submarine replacement work, the company statement said. The Nuclear Fuel Services work will involve the manufacture of fuel for the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program, it said.
BWXT announced last week that Nuclear Fuel Services has received a $241.5 million contract from the National Nuclear Security Administration to downblend 10.4 metric tons of highly enriched uranium for use as commercial nuclear reactor fuel.
