Antares Secures Multi-Year TRISO Fuel Supply Deal From BWXT

BWX Technologies (BWXT ) announced on October 27, 2026 that its BWXT Advanced Fuels subsidiary has entered into a multi-year commercial agreement with Antares Nuclear establishing a framework for production of tri-structural isotropic (TRISO) nuclear fuel. The agreement includes terms for an initial allocation of 1 MTU (metric ton uranium), with the ability to increase as deployment requirements evolve to support Antares’ advanced reactor program.

Under the agreement, the fuel will be manufactured at BWXT’s Lynchburg, Virginia, facility, on the same TRISO fabrication line used to produce fuel for the Department of War’s Project Pele and Antares’ Mark-0 reactors. The TRISO fuel manufactured under the agreement will be delivered in accordance with a series of future task orders that define specific quantities, delivery schedules and technical requirements as Antares’ reactor program progresses. BWXT said the agreement builds on its existing relationship with Antares and supports the reactor developer’s progression from reactor demonstration to initial production deployments. BWXT-produced fuel supported Antares’ Mark-0 criticality milestone earlier in 2026.

“BWXT’s decades of experience in advanced fuel manufacturing give us the foundation to support Antares as they accelerate toward commercial deployment,” said Joe Miller, president of BWXT Government Operations. “Our team has refined the processes for high-performance TRISO fuel, and this agreement enables us to apply those strengths in a sustained, predictable way. As demand grows across the advanced reactor sector, BWXT is prepared to scale.”

“We achieved criticality with BWXT fuel, and it’s what will power our electricity producing reactor, Mark-1, in 2027,” said Jordan Bramble, CEO and Co-Founder of Antares. “Securing that same line through the end of the decade means our first production deployments run on fuel from a team and a process we’ve already proven.”

In a forward-looking statement notice accompanying the announcement, BWXT identified risks related to TRISO fuel production and the Antares contract that include modification or termination of the contract, funding of current and future work and delays in performance. The company referred readers to its annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, and subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Agreement Follows Mark-0 Criticality Milestone

The production framework follows BWXT’s June 4, 2026, announcement that its TRISO fuel had powered Antares’ reactor through the first successful criticality milestone under Executive Order 14301, Reforming Nuclear Reactor Testing at the Department of Energy. For that demonstration, BWXT also processed the high assay low enriched uranium (HALEU) feedstock material used to manufacture the Antares TRISO fuel compacts from scrap materials provided by the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Antares modeled its reactor fuel on the TRISO fuel compacts BWXT delivered for Project Pele, the 1.5-megawatt transportable microreactor BWXT is building for the U.S. Army’s Strategic Capabilities Office. That TRISO fuel specification was developed within the Department of Energy’s Advanced Gas Reactor program, and BWXT paired it with decades of TRISO development at its Specialty Fuels Fabrication facility in Lynchburg. Bramble said in June that building on the proven Project Pele specification allowed his team to concentrate on what it had to prove itself: the control system and reactor physics. Miller said at the time that BWXT delivered the fuel for the milestone at Idaho National Lab, and U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright described the event as a historic milestone for advanced nuclear fuel fabrication in the United States. The June release also stated that BWXT was continuing to support Antares with ongoing TRISO fuel manufacturing.

Antares Program and Feedstock Supply

According to the company description in the October 27 release, Antares is a nuclear fission energy company developing compact microreactors for defense and space applications. Founded in 2023 and backed by over $600 million in funding, Antares achieved initial criticality of its Mark-0 microreactor in 2026 under the DOE Reactor Pilot Program and states it is on track to produce electricity from an advanced reactor in 2027, with initial production deployments to U.S. military installations beginning in 2028. Antares operates facilities in Torrance, California; Idaho Falls, Idaho; and Aiken, South Carolina.

Antares has also contracted separately for the uranium feedstock its reactors require. On September 17, 2026, Centrus Energy (LEU ) and Antares announced a definitive multi-year contract for Centrus to supply Antares with HALEU, with deliveries commencing before the end of the decade and prepayments from Antares to support expanded HALEU capacity. Centrus described its American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, as the only licensed HALEU production facility in the western world, and stated that Antares had recently been selected for the U.S. Army’s Janus Program at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; the Air Force’s Advanced Nuclear Power for Installations program at Joint Base San Antonio, Texas; and a Space Force Strategic Breakthrough award to demonstrate a space reactor.