The Energy Department’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) awarded a $1.5 billion sole-source contract to BWXT Enrichment Operations, LLC, for the licensing, manufacturing, development, facility construction, and operations of a Domestic Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Experiment (DUECE) pilot plant in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The DUECE pilot plant is required to reach key technological readiness milestones in support of NNSA’s strategy to establish a reliable and economic supply of unobligated enriched uranium for defense purposes, specifically low-enriched uranium (LEU) for tritium production, and highly enriched uranium (HEU) for naval nuclear propulsion. The DUECE technology will not be used to produce enriched uranium for the commercial nuclear power industry.
