The National Nuclear Security Administration on Monday awarded Nuclear Fuel Services, a subsidiary of naval nuclear reactor manufacturer BWX Technologies, a five-year, $428-million contract to provide purification and conversion services for highly enriched uranium .
Located in Erwin, Tenn., Nuclear Fuel Services (NFS) is one of only two category I nuclear facilities licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to store and process highly enriched uranium (HEU).
Under the contract, NFS will establish a process line inside the facility before initiating conversion and purification operations, according to a statement from BWX Technologies.
The contract award was expected, as NFS already completed a $57.5 million phase-one contract that began in 2021. That contract required NFS to design a process line and demonstrate that it could convert uranium oxide to purified uranium metal while meeting NNSA specifications, which required certain license amendments through the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 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, president of BWXT’s nuclear operations group. “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 oxide-to-metal purification and conversion has historically been performed at the NNSA’s Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge, Tenn. The work is being outsourced to NFS while Y-12 modernizes its uranium enrichment facilities.
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.
