Uranium Processing Services
BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT) is a proven leader in the receipt, storage, characterization, dissolution, recovery and purification of a variety of uranium-bearing materials. For decades, its Uranium Processing Services facility in Lynchburg, Virginia, has provided all phases of uranium downblending and uranium recovery. The facility routinely ships final products both domestically and internationally.
Unique Capabilities
- Designed and licensed to handle all uranium enrichments – from depleted to fully enriched.
- Licensed by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to possess, safeguard and use up to 80 metric tons (MT) of enriched uranium.
- Staffed with experienced and qualified personnel to support federal and state licensing and safety-related activities.
- Employed with highly trained engineers, operators and technicians who can manufacture, test and characterize all uranium forms.
- Experienced in international and domestic shipping of nuclear fuel and fuel-bearing components, and meeting all required import/export licenses and regulatory requirements.
- Supported by on-site National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) certified laboratories that conduct metallurgical, chemical isotopic evaluations of nuclear fuel and uranium-bearing materials and products.
- Recognized for superior safety record and ratings from the NRC’s Licensee Performance
- Rating Program that covers the entire scope of licensed activities.
- Known for its well-defined and rigorous ISO 900 Quality Assurance Program.
Uranium Recovery
Valuable uranium is recovered from all forms of uranium-bearing scrap material, safely accommodating all enrichments. The facility’s experience includes processing scrap material from its internal operations, as well as managing scrap material from other facilities, programs and countries. Since 1962, the site has recovered and purified more than 48 MT of valuable HEU from scrap, waste and unused product.
Unique Capabilities
- Features purification capacities in excess of 1.5 MT HEU annually.
- Recovery processes accommodate uranium from all forms and enrichments of scrap material.
- Produces end products of almost any form, including uranyl nitrate solutions and uranyl nitrate hexahydrate (UNH) crystals or oxides.
Nickel Purification and Re-Use
BWXT has successfully demonstrated technology to clean scrap metals contaminated with radiological materials such as uranium, thorium and technetium. Results from the demonstration, using nickel, proved that the contaminated nickel product was as clean as, or cleaner than, commercially available nickel.
BWXT intends to build a processing plant to clean contaminated scrap metals, with capabilities to purify many of the different contaminated metals currently owned and stored by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). The clean metal products could then be re-used to provide stable raw metal supplies and prices for DOE and other applicable government programs.