Naval Nuclear Propulsion

The last railcar in a proposed spent nuclear fuel rail transport system is en route to Colorado this week for testing, the Department of Energy said in a press release. The Rail Escort Vehicle (REV) will undergo multiple-car testing at a site near Pueblo, Colo., DOE said in its Monday statement. The railcar is set to […]

Austrian personnel will be able to access training and information about U.S. and U.K. nuclear naval propulsion under as part of the latest progress in the three-way AUKUS agreement to transfer nuclear submarine technology to Canberra, Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison said Monday. The agreement “will enable Australian civilian and military personnel to receive access […]

ARLINGTON, VA. — The head of Naval Reactors this week invited defense industry executives here to think about how they’d contribute to a three-way effort to transfer nuclear submarine propulsion to Australia — but he didn’t invite any contributions. “We have 18 months to go and figure out how to deliver a platform, a capability, […]

Australia is not planning to create a domestic nuclear industry to support the highly enriched uranium-powered submarines the country hopes to build using U.S. and U.K. technology, Canberra’s ambassador said this week. “The subs will be using HEU [highly enriched uranium] and we’re just working out now the arrangements for what that will mean in […]

Editor’s note, 11/19/2021, 12:41 p.m. Eastern time. The story was changed to show that the program has two months of margin, according to the Navy’s program executive officer for strategic submarines.   The Navy’s Columbia-class submarine program could be down to as little as two months of margin, the admiral in charge of the program […]

Australia is not planning to create a domestic nuclear industry to support the highly enriched uranium-powered submarines the country hopes to build using U.S. and U.K. technology, Canberra’s ambassador said Tuesday. “The subs will be using HEU [highly enriched uranium] and we’re just working out now the arrangements for what that will mean in practice, […]

ARLINGTON, VA. — The head of Naval Reactors a invited defense industry executives here Wednesday to think about how they’d contribute to a three-way effort to transfer nuclear submarine propulsion to Australia — but he didn’t invite any contributions. “We have 18 months to go and figure out how to deliver a platform, a capability, […]

Australia will modify an existing submarine design when it acquires nuclear propulsion under the new AUKUS trilateral partnership with the United Kingdom and the U.S., Canberra’s ambassador to the states said in a virtual presentation this week. “We didn’t want to spend years playing around with a design and so with our American and English […]

The Navy exercised a one-year, $1-billion option on Fluor Marine Propulsion’s Naval Reactors contract, which includes management of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s multi-site Naval Nuclear Laboratory in Idaho, New York and Pennsylvania, the parent company said this week. Fluor Marine Propulsion, Arlington, Va., snagged the naval labs business from Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp. in 2018 as […]

The Navy exercised a one-year, $1-billion option on Fluor Marine Propulsion’s Naval Reactors contract, which includes management of the National Nuclear Security Administration’s multi-site Naval Nuclear Laboratory in Idaho, New York and Pennsylvania, the parent company said Monday. Fluor Marine Propulsion, Arlington, Va., snagged the naval labs business from Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp. in 2018 […]

A three-way partnership between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia to help the latter acquire nuclear-powered submarines “is not designed in any way to be exclusive,” the U.K. military’s highest-ranking uniformed officer said this week. The trilateral deal, called AUKUS, was “a first step in terms of industrial development between like-minded partners,” Gen. […]

Non-executive board chair John Fees will end a 43-year career with BWX Technologies and its predecessor companies on May 3, the Lynchburg, Va.-based naval nuclear reactor provider, fuel fabricator and defense-nuclear site-manager announced Wednesday in a regulatory filing. Fees, who has been the non-executive chairman since 2018, will retire after the company’s board of directors […]

A three-way partnership between the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia to help the latter acquire nuclear-powered submarines “is not designed in any way to be exclusive,” the U.K. military’s highest-ranking uniformed officer said Tuesday.  The trilateral deal, called AUKUS, was “a first step in terms of industrial development between like-minded partners,” Gen. Sir […]

A government employee and his wife were arrested last week for attempting this summer to sell classified information about the Virginia-class attack submarine’s nuclear reactor to a foreign government, according to an unsealed criminal complaint dated Oct. 8. Jonathan Toebbe and his wife, Diana Toebbe, were in federal custody by Saturday, according to a filing […]

A government employee and his wife were arrested over the weekend for attempting this summer to sell classified information about the Virginia-class attack submarine’s nuclear reactor to a foreign government, according to an unsealed criminal complaint dated Friday. Jonathan Toebbe and his wife, Diana Toebbe, were in federal custody by Saturday, according to a Monday […]

The secretary of the Navy and Chief of Naval Operations announced four new flag officer assignments as part of a submarine acquisition restructuring as well as a new shipyard improvement position. Rear Adm. David Goggins is moving from program executive officer for submarines to program executive officer for attack submarines, which will consolidate and oversee […]

By Rich Abott Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Mike Gilday on Thursday said the effort to design, build, support and properly oversee Australia’s fleet of nuclear-powered attack submarines under a new deal may take decades. Last week, the U.S., U.K. and Australia announced the new AUKUS partnership to help Australia pursue procurement of its first nuclear-powered attack […]

In an announcement with implications for a wide cross section of nuclear policy professionals and the nuclear industry, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that Australia will acquire nuclear attack submarines — of origin and fuel type yet to be determined — as part of a new trilateral accord with the U.S. and the U.K. After […]

In an announcement with implications for a wide cross section of nuclear policy professionals and the nuclear industry, President Joe Biden announced Wednesday that Australia will acquire nuclear attack submarines — of origin and fuel type yet to be determined — as part of a new trilateral accord with the U.S. and the U.K. After […]

Retired Navy Vice Admiral Fritz Roegge is the new president of Holtec’s government services subsidiary, the company announced this week in a press release dominated by new hires for the Camden, N.J., company’s financial team. Now leading the finance silo is Kevin O’Rourke, the new vice president and chief financial officer. He replaces David LaRosa, […]

Retired Navy Vice Admiral Fritz Roegge is the new president of Holtec’s government services subsidiary, the company announced Monday in a press release dominated by new hires for the Campden, N.J., company’s financial team. Now leading the finance silo is Kevin O’Rourke, the new vice president and chief financial officer. He replaces David LaRosa, who […]

Rear Adm. John Mitchell (ret), whose decade-plus, post-Navy career with Bechtel National took him on a tour of senior leadership posts at defense-nuclear sites and Yucca Mountain, died June 1. He was 79. That is according to a short memorial post online that indicated Mitchell’s final arrangements would be handled by a funeral home in Alexandria, Va., […]

Rear Adm. John Mitchell (ret), whose decade-plus, post-Navy career with Bechtel National took him on a tour of senior leadership posts at defense-nuclear sites and Yucca Mountain, died June 1. He was 79. That is according to a short memorial post online that indicated Mitchell’s final arrangements would be handled by a funeral home in […]

The Navy should scrap plans to develop a nuclear-tipped sea-launched cruise missile, the service’s acting secretary wrote in a memo dated June 4. Media this week widely reported on the memo that Thomas Harker, the acting secretary of the Navy, sent to the undersecretary of the navy, the commandant of the marine corps, the chief […]

The U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program has awarded Lynchburg, Va.,-based BWX Technologies contracts worth about $2.2 billion for making naval reactor parts and fuel, the company said in a Tuesday morning press release. BWXT Nuclear Operations Group sites in Virginia, Ohio and Indiana will manufacture nuclear reactor components for Columbia and Virginia-class submarines over an […]

The U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program has awarded Lynchburg, Va.,-based BWX Technologies contracts worth about $2.2 billion for making naval reactor parts and fuel, the company said in a Tuesday morning press release. BWXT Nuclear Operations Group sites in Virginia, Ohio and Indiana will manufacture nuclear reactor components for Columbia and Virginia-class submarines over an […]

Jim Bittner is taking over as vice president and general manager for BWX Technologies’ Nuclear Operations Groups’ Lynchburg, Va., manufacturing facility, which manufactures reactors for naval aircraft carriers and submarines, the company announced Monday. Bittner will be in charge of about 2,200 employees in Lynchburg, which is one of the two commercial facilities certified by the Nuclear […]

Jim Bittner is taking over as vice president and general manager for BWX Technologies’ Nuclear Operations Groups’ Lynchburg, Va., manufacturing facility, which manufactures reactors for naval aircraft carriers and submarines, the company announced Monday. Bittner will be in charge of about 2,200 employees in Lynchburg, which is one of the two commercial facilities certified by […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based RSI Services is the winner of a potential five-year, $22-million small business contract to remediate Naval Reactors sites overseen by the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration in West Milton, N.Y. The set-aside cleanup contract for the Kesselring Site was announced Tuesday by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. Under the […]

Oak Ridge, Tenn.-based RSI Services is the winner of a potential five-year, $22-million small business contract to remediate Naval Reactors sites overseen by the semi-autonomous National Nuclear Security Administration in West Milton, N.Y. The set-aside cleanup contract for the Kesselring Site was announced Tuesday by the Department of Energy’s Office of Environmental Management. Under the […]