The National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) has *awarded a BWX Technologies (BWXT) subsidiary with a contract for licensing, design and operation of High Purity Depleted Uranium production in Tennessee.
BWXT Ordnance Tennessee, the subsidiary awarded the capability, will produce this form of uranium in Jonesborough, Tenn. at a manufacturing plant it establishes at its own site. The depleted uranium produced will supply Y-12 National Security Complex with the type of uranium needed for NNSA’s life extension programs.
According to BWXT’s release Tuesday, the contract is 10 years and valued at $1.6 billion. BWXT will be assigned with producing up to 300 metric tons of high purity depleted uranium (HPDU) annually.
“This award enables NNSA to supply new unalloyed depleted uranium to Y-12 for its essential mission to produce depleted uranium and binary components necessary to maintain the Nation’s deterrent,” Dave Hoagland, Acting Deputy Administrator for Defense Programs at NNSA, said in the agency’s release Tuesday.
Making HPDU involves converting uranium oxide, which NNSA and DOE own and convert at DOE’s Portsmouth site, to a usable metal that will be used for national security purposes.