Fluor Wins Nuclear Island Services Contract for Cascade SMR Project

Fluor announced on November 5, 2026 that X-energy selected it to provide engineering, design and project-management services for the Cascade Advanced Energy Facility near Richland, Washington. The contract value was not disclosed and will be recognized in the third quarter, making that recognition timing the principal financial detail available for the award.

The agreement covers engineering, design development, supply chain, estimating and project controls services for the facility’s nuclear island. Fluor will apply lessons from its ongoing work on X-energy’s first Xe-100 project to project development, execution planning and critical investment decisions. The disclosed assignment centers on defining and managing the nuclear island, not a contract to construct the entire facility.

Cascade’s initial deployment is expected to use four Xe-100 high-temperature gas-cooled reactors generating approximately 320 megawatts of carbon-free electricity, with potential expansion to 12 units and 960 megawatts. Fluor describes Cascade as the first project in X-energy’s effort to deploy 5 gigawatts of new nuclear by 2039, a deployment objective rather than capacity already built.

Energy Northwest’s Cascade project overview says public power utilities may purchase up to 50% of the power from the fully expanded project and lists projected employment of 1,000 to 2,000 jobs during construction and 100 to 200 full-time, family-wage jobs during operation. The site is near Columbia Generating Station.

Design-Build Work Is a Separate Effort

Energy Northwest announced on October 23, 2025 that it was negotiating with Cascade Nuclear Partners, an equal joint venture of Kiewit Nuclear Solutions, Black & Veatch and Aecon, to plan, design and construct the initial reactors under a progressive design-build model. That development phase was intended to define scope, schedule and cost parameters before full execution. Fluor’s nuclear-island assignment is distinct from that wider design-build effort, although its estimating and project-controls work addresses the same need to establish an executable project.

Under the timeline set out in that announcement, environmental, safety, permitting, licensing and risk analyses would precede an expected construction-permit application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Construction was anticipated to begin by the end of the decade, with operations targeted for the 2030s.

Fluor Carries Experience From Seadrift

Fluor’s earlier X-energy assignment came through an April 6, 2026 contract announcement for the proposed project at Dow’s UCC Seadrift Operations in south Texas. The initial Front-End Loading Stage 2 assignment covered project definition, strategic planning, feasibility assessment, cost control and risk mitigation. Its value was also undisclosed.

Seadrift proposes four 80-megawatt units to supply Dow with electricity and industrial steam while replacing aging energy and steam infrastructure. The project is supported by the Department of Energy’s Advanced Reactor Demonstration Program, which uses cost-shared industry partnerships to accelerate commercialization of advanced nuclear technologies. Its construction-permit application was submitted in March 2025 and was under Nuclear Regulatory Commission review when Fluor announced the Texas contract.

The two assignments use the same reactor technology for different purposes: electricity and steam for an industrial complex at Seadrift, and a generating facility at Cascade where public power utilities have prospective purchase rights. Cascade adds a second X-energy project to Fluor’s disclosed work and places the company in the estimating, execution planning and investment decisions preceding full construction. The award extends Fluor’s advanced-reactor services work beyond Seadrift’s industrial application, with its Cascade role centered on establishing the project’s cost and delivery plan before full execution.