The U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program has awarded contracts to two BWX Technologies subsidiaries, with options totaling more than $3.1 billion, for manufacture of naval nuclear reactor components and fuel, the company announced Wednesday.
The reactor components contracts were awarded to BWXT Nuclear Operations Group Inc., while the naval nuclear fuel contracts were awarded to Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc (NFS). Approximately $1.2 billion of this award has been received in 2016 with the bulk of the remaining contract awards expected to be received in 2017 and 2018, subject to annual Congressional appropriations.
BWXT said that a variety of nuclear reactor “manufacturing activities” would be covered with these contracts, primarily in support of Ford-class carrier construction, Nimitz-class carrier refueling, Virginia-class submarine construction and preliminary Ohio-class submarine replacement work.
The Gerald R. Ford-class super-carriers, which can support up to 90 aircraft, are being built to replace some of the existing Nimitz-class carriers. Similarly, the Virginia-class submarines are the latest development among submarines, except they are smaller and faster than their predecessors. The Ohio-class nuclear submarines are ballistic missile-capable subs. There are 14 outfitted with ballistic missiles and four currently converted to guided missile system platforms.
The reactor component work to be completed under these contracts will be conducted in Lynchburg, Va., Barberton and Euclid, Ohio, and Mount Vernon, Ind. The fuel work will be conducted at NFS in Erwin, Tenn.