BWXT wins $2.6B in contracts for naval nuclear reactor components

The U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program has awarded BWX Technologies, a Lynchburg-based manufacturer of nuclear components and fuel, contracts totaling approximately $2.6 billion for the manufacture of naval nuclear reactor components.

BWXT announced on Thursday that the contracts include future-year options.

The work will support Virginia-class and Columbia-class submarines, as well as work for certain Ford-class aircraft carrier components. BWXT stated that the products included in the contracts will be delivered over the next six to eight years.

“The BWXT team is proud to produce this essential hardware that allows the U.S. Navy to carry out its critical national security mission,” BWXT Nuclear Operations Group President Gary Camper said in a statement. “That commitment to quality is the legacy that comes from our more than 70 years of service to the Navy.”

BWXT described a naval nuclear reactor as “a highly complex assembly” that requires several large, heavy components, numerous smaller, finely machined components and highly enriched uranium fuel. Work will be performed at BWXT facilities in Ohio, Indiana, Tennessee and Virginia.

The new award is in addition to the $2.1 billion in contracts that the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program awarded to BWXT in February for nuclear reactor component manufacturing and material procurement for Columbia- and Virginia-class submarines, as well as Ford-class aircraft carriers.

In March, BWXT celebrated the official opening of its new Innovation Campus, set on 11 acres in Campbell County. The campus includes 170,000 square feet of offices and manufacturing space, which will house laboratories where the company’s Advanced Technologies business unit will design, build and test advanced nuclear systems for its clients, which include NASA, the Defense Department and commercial businesses.

The company announced in May that it completed its $525 million acquisition of Kinectrics, which provides nuclear power plant lifecycle support services and lifecycle management services. The acquisition nearly doubled the workforce of BWXT’s commercial operations group and allows BWXT to expand its products and services.

BWXT has nearly 10,000 employees and 20 major operating sites in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.