Mary-Louise Hoffman
BWX Technologies has begun to produce uranium and refurbish equipment as part of preparations to revive the tristructural-isotropic nuclear fuel manufacturing line at a company facility in Lynchburg, Va.
The company said Wednesday it aims to expand TRISO fuel production to address emerging interest in advanced nuclear reactor technology for defense, civil and space applications.
BWXT is working to establish an integrated facility that will support processes of preparing feedstock as well as recovering and purifying uranium.
“While the vast majority of the production equipment is already in place, we have been making some equipment upgrades to prepare the line for what we anticipate will be consistent production runs in the future,” said Joel Duling, president of BWXT’s nuclear operations group.
The Department of Energy worked with the company for over 15 years to develop and test TRISO-based fuel.
BWXT noted it holds Nuclear Regulatory Commission Category 1 licenses in the U.S. and added the permits can also be used to produce Category 2 material for the its TRISO manufacturing work.
