BWXT to evaluate defence-focused enrichment pilot plant

Under the contract - awarded to BWXT subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services Inc (NFS) - BWXT will complete a year-long engineering study to evaluate options for deploying the pilot plant, which should be able to be repurposed for highly-enriched uranium (HEU) production.

BWXT said the contract represents the next phase of NNSA's Domestic Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Experiment (DUECE) project, intended to preserve and advance uranium enrichment expertise and technology for current and future US national security needs. The project was developed and managed by Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL).

According to NNSA, the US government currently lacks the ability to enrich uranium to support defence missions. The Domestic Uranium Enrichment (DUE) programme's mission is to ensure a reliable supply of enriched uranium for national security missions including low-enriched uranium (LEU) to support tritium production and HEU to fuel naval nuclear propulsion. The DUECE programme is working to establish a new capability in time to meet national security needs using centrifuge technologies. 

NNSA said there is a need to develop and demonstrate centrifuge technologies to better characterise performance, reliability, and life-cycle costs prior to selecting a path forward for a production-scale capability.

Since 2016, the DUE programme has funded the research and development of small centrifuge technology under the DUECE project at ORNL. ORNL is planning to demonstrate the DUECE technology in an engineering-scale cascade testbed at a facility located on its campus in Oak Ridge, Tennessee.

The objective of the engineering study is to "inform the acquisition approach" for a pilot plant that will demonstrate the DUE centrifuge performance, reliability and life-cycle costs for the NNSA.

US engineering and construction firm Fluor Corporation will be the engineering, procurement and construction service provider for the activity.

NFS - part of its BWXT Nuclear Operations Group - processes highly-enriched uranium to manufacture fuel material for all naval nuclear reactors used in US submarines and aircraft carriers. It also provides uranium downblending services to support commercial power needs and national security missions.

"BWXT's entry into the domestic uranium enrichment market is driven by our unwavering commitment to national security, and we look forward to working with NNSA and ORNL to advance the DUECE programme," said BWXT Government Operations President Kevin McCoy. "Given BWXT's unique nuclear operations infrastructure and US Nuclear Regulatory Commission Category 1 uranium handling and processing licences, this venture aligns well with BWXT's long-standing strategy to expand its role in the national security nuclear fuel cycle."