The COVID-19 health crisis is so far having only marginal impact on BWX Technologies, President and CEO Rex Geveden said Tuesday.
That is largely thanks to the Lynchburg, Va.-based nuclear company’s “essential” role in energy, military, and medical sectors, Geveden said during the quarterly earnings call with Wall Street analysts.
As an example, Geveden noted that BWXT manufactures reactors and other nuclear components for U.S. Navy submarines and aircraft carriers. The company’s manufacturing facilities remain open, he said.
It is too early to say how the reduced operations forced by the pandemic at Department of Energy sites where BWXT works will affect milestones under its contracts and future fee awards, Geveden said.
The chief executive also said he expects incremental delays to new contract awards from the Energy Department.
A potential 10-year deal for management of radioactive waste at the Hanford Site in Washington state probably won’t be issued until late summer, Geveden said. Before the onset of the pandemic, he and other sources expected the new contract to be out in January.
The current $7.8 billion tank waste business, held by Amentum-led Washington River Protection Solutions, began in October 2008 and is set to run through this September. BWX Technologies has said it is part of a team seeking the contract.
The health crisis could slow BWXT’s development of its production line for the medical isotope molybdenum-99 by a quarter, the CEO added. Geveden explained that operation relies on a supply chain that includes European vendors that have been forced to temporarily idle manufacturing facilities.
The situation has also prompted some electric utilities in Canada to delay nuclear reactor maintenance or refurbishment. “They don’t want 300 people crawling around the face of a reactor,” Geveden said. Nuclear plant refueling outages commonly involve employment of hundreds of temporary workers on-site.
On the upside, CH2M HILL BWXT West Valley recently received a $243 million, 39-month contract extension from DOE for cleanup at the West Valley Demonstration Project in New York.
