BWXT Awarded $4 Million Conceptual Design Contract for Y-12 Lithium Processing Facility

Recently, BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT), a nuclear technology, nuclear components, and nuclear fuel manufacturing company headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia, USA, announced that it has been awarded the conceptual design contract for the first module of the first lithium processing facility at the Y-12 National Security Complex by the U.S. Department of Energy National Nuclear Security Administration (DOE/NNSA).

It is understood that the Y-12 National Security Complex, located in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, USA, is managed by the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) under the U.S. Department of Energy. Its core business revolves around the processing, handling, and storage of special nuclear materials. Its current primary missions are the production, processing, storage, and decommissioning of enriched uranium components (secondary stage assemblies) for U.S. nuclear weapons. It is responsible for providing the required nuclear fuel (enriched uranium) for the U.S. Navy's nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers, as well as recovering and storing sensitive nuclear materials worldwide to prevent nuclear weapons proliferation.

In tokamaks or laser fusion reactors, lithium blankets are required to absorb neutrons and produce the fusion fuel "tritium." The high-purity lithium chemistry and high-temperature molten processing technology (Homogenization Technology) accumulated by BWXT at Y-12 can, in terms of technical principles, be extended and applied to future commercial nuclear fusion energy engineering.