The U.S. Naval Reactors Program has awarded BWXT Nuclear Operations Group contracts valued at $34.5 million for work involving support and manufacture of naval nuclear reactor components for nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers, BWX Technologies Inc. said Tuesday.
In effect, the work for the naval program is a continuation of the company's design and fabrication work on the USS Nautilus, which was launched in 1954 as the world's first nuclear powered submarine. It was also the first submarine to complete an underwater traverse of the North Pole, which occurred in 1958. BWXT is the sole manufacturer of naval nuclear reactors for submarines and aircraft carriers, the company said.
Today, BWXT reactors power four submarines and two aircraft carriers. The Navy's Ohio, Virginia, Seawolf and Los Angeles class submarines and the Nimitz and Ford class aircraft carriers are powered by BWXT reactors.
BWXT said the activities funded by the new contracts will be conducted at facilities in Lynchburg, Va., Barberton, Ohio, and Mount Vernon, Ind. Work under these contracts is already underway, and the majority of it will be carried out over the next two years. Of the $34.5 million in new funding, approximately $9.4 million represents the exercise of options under a previously announced contract, and about $25.1 million represents new contracts awarded this year.
BWXT also found its way into the news cycle last week, as the Nuclear Regulatory Commission launched a special inspection at the BWX Technologies fuel facility in Lynchburg, Va., to assess the circumstances surrounding the discovery that workers may have exceeded controls for criticality safety in a production line glovebox.
A glovebox is used by workers to remotely handle radioactive materials and there are strict limits for how much radioactive material and other important materials are allowed within the glovebox, the NRC explained. Those controls are important to prevent a criticality, which can occur when uranium accumulates in sufficient quantity and shape to initiate a chain reaction.
At the BWXT facility, there were no safety related consequences or criticality, the NRC said. But the potential lapse in controls prompted the NRC to conduct the special inspection.
The specific process involved remains shut down. “BWXT identified this issue and took immediate corrective actions,” said Len Wert, NRC Region II Deputy Administrator. “However, a special inspection is appropriate to ensure we fully understand what happened and the possible implications.”
The special inspection will look at the sequence of events, evaluate the effectiveness of corrective actions, assess the adequacy of management measures and procedures in the area, review the company’s own root cause analysis and determine the adequacy of the event reporting.
A fuel facility inspector from the NRC’s Region II office in Atlanta gathering information at the site on Friday, Sept. 25. The inspection is expected to take at least a week with a report documenting the findings issued within 30 days after the inspection is completed.