A Bechtel National company has landed a Department of Defense contract modification worth nearly $928 million for naval nuclear propulsion components, the Pentagon said last week.
Bechtel Plant Machinery., Monroeville, Pa., was awarded the modification to a previously awarded cost-plus-fixed-fee contract, according to a Dec. 19 summary of contract news from the Pentagon.
About two-thirds of the work will be done at Monroeville and the rest at Schenectady, N.Y., according to the Pentagon contract notice.
The work, which should be finished by September 2035, was not competitively bid, the Pentagon said in the notice, citing “only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements.”
Orano has signed with Perpetual Atomics to source Americium-241 from spent nuclear fuel recycling to create space-based power systems.
According to Orano’s Dec. 19 press release, the supply of Americium-241 will be sourced from Orano’s La Hague fuel processing site in France. Perpetual Atomics plans to develop a radioisotope power system, built on Americium-241, to power space crafts.
The power systems will use heat generated from the decay of radioisotopes, such as Americium-241, to keep a spacecraft operationally warm or convert into electricity to power pivotal energy systems, according to the release.
The husband-and-wife team at the helm of Longenecker & Associates (L&A) have pledged to donate $500,000 over time to the National Atomic Testing Museum in Las Vegas.
Longenecker & Associates said in a Dec. 9 press release that L&A CEO John Longenecker and Founder/Board Chair Bonnie Longenecker have made an immediate grant of $250,000 to the museum and the rest will be donated in future years.
According to its website, the Atomic Museum “is a national science, history and educational institution that tells the story of America’s nuclear weapons testing program at the Nevada Test Site [now known as the Department of Energy’s Nevada Nuclear Security Site].” John Longenecker currently chairs the museum’s board of trustees. Longenecker & Associates is being bought by Florida-based Geosyntec, the companies announced last week.