Energy
Nuclear Fuel Services Lands $189M Navy Reactor Fuel Deal
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BWX Technologies (BWXT ) announced on October 1, 2026, the award of a contract totaling approximately $189 million for the manufacture of naval nuclear reactor fuel. The announcement carried a Lynchburg, Virginia, dateline.
Under the contract, BWXT subsidiary Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc., located in Erwin, Tennessee, will manufacture and deliver fuel for the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program. Work under the contract is scheduled for completion in August 2027.
The company said its fuel and reactors power the U.S. Navy’s Ohio, Virginia, Seawolf, Los Angeles and Columbia-class submarines, as well as the Nimitz and Ford-class aircraft carriers.
“This contract underscores the Navy’s confidence in our decades of disciplined performance and our role in delivering the fuel that enables unmatched endurance, mobility and mission readiness across the fleet,” said Howard Markle, president of BWXT’s Nuclear Operations Group. “The BWXT team is honored to support this essential national security mission.”
Nuclear Fuel Services in Erwin
According to BWXT, the Nuclear Fuel Services facility processes highly enriched uranium to manufacture fuel for all U.S. naval nuclear reactors. The company said the site has been involved in the manufacture of nuclear fuel for the U.S. Navy for more than 60 years and described it as a highly secure, Category 1 nuclear facility licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. BWXT used a matching description of the Erwin facility in its October 2025 contract announcement, calling it a highly secure, Category I nuclear facility licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
Alongside the Erwin fuel work, the company’s Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program activities include reactor component manufacturing, which BWXT has said is performed at Nuclear Operations Group locations in Virginia, Ohio and Indiana.
Earlier Naval Nuclear Propulsion Awards
The new award follows an approximately $174 million U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program fuel contract that BWXT announced on October 30, 2025. That contract was awarded on September 10, 2025, and likewise called for Nuclear Fuel Services in Erwin to manufacture and deliver fuel, with the customer identified in that release as the Naval Reactors Program. BWXT said at the time that work under the September 2025 contract had already commenced, with completion targeted for summer 2026. The October 2025 release contained the same list of Navy submarine and aircraft carrier classes powered by BWXT fuel and reactors.
The October 2025 announcement quoted Gary Camper, identified as president of BWXT’s Nuclear Operations Group. Camper said then that, as the Navy marked its 250th anniversary, the company was proud to power the fleet, and that the Nuclear Fuel Services team demonstrated the level of quality and commitment needed each day to fuel the Navy’s global mission of maintaining freedom and security.
On February 19, 2025, the company announced U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program contracts totaling approximately $2.1 billion for the manufacture of naval nuclear reactor components. The company said component manufacturing and material procurement for Columbia and Virginia class submarines and Ford class aircraft carriers would be performed at BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. locations in Lynchburg, Virginia; Barberton and Euclid, Ohio; and Mount Vernon, Indiana, over an approximately seven-year period that began in 2023.
“For more than 70 years, BWXT has proudly supported the U.S. Navy’s mission to defend freedom and uphold security across the globe,” said Gary D. Camper, BWXT Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. president, in that announcement. He said the contracts reflected the company’s naval nuclear power expertise and its dedication to equipping the Navy with the tools needed to ensure the seas remain free and open.
The February 2025 release added that production and delivery of fuel and support activities for the U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program are performed by Nuclear Fuel Services in Erwin, and that a separate fuel contract valued at approximately $300 million had been awarded and announced in October 2023, with work scheduled for completion in 2025.
