A planned NNSA defense enrichment pilot plant that BWXT Enrichment Operations will license, build and run at its Nuclear Fuel Services site in Erwin, Tennessee, using Oak Ridge National Laboratory's small gas-centrifuge (DUECE) design. It will make unobligated LEU for tritium production and later HEU for naval reactors, not commercial fuel; GAO expects NRC construction approval in 2031 and limited operations in 2035.
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Current state
| Status | Planned |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Erwin, Tennessee |
| Operator | BWXT Enrichment Operations |
| Ownership | BWXT subsidiary working under an NNSA contract; Oak Ridge National Laboratory is the design authority for the DUECE centrifuge technology. |
| Facility type | Enrichment plant |
| Technology | Gas centrifuge |
| Products | LEU, HEU |
| Target capacity (tSWU/yr) | 50 |
| License | No NRC license yet; GAO expects NRC approval for pilot plant construction in 2031. |
| Government support | NNSA sole-source IDIQ contract valued at $1.5 billion (September 2025); Task Order 1 had $266.7 million obligated through September 2026. |
| Offtake | Defense use only: NNSA says DUECE technology will not be used to produce enriched uranium for the commercial nuclear power industry. |
Notes
GAO gives 50,000 SWU a year (50 tSWU) as the plant's enrichment capacity once it converts to HEU enrichment, around 2049; it does not state when the plant first reaches that capacity, so no target year is recorded. NNSA has not published a construction start date. Included although defense-only because GAO treats it as part of federal uranium supply planning.
Timeline
- 2025-09-16 — NNSA awarded BWXT Enrichment Operations a sole-source contract to license, build and operate a DUECE pilot plant, under an IDIQ vehicle valued at $1.5 billion. (source)
- 2025-09-22 — NNSA signed Task Order 1 for the pilot plant with an initial obligation of $67.0 million. (source)
- 2026-03-17 — NNSA added $43.4 million to Task Order 1. (source)
- 2026-07-21 — NNSA added $120.0 million to Task Order 1. (source)
- 2026-09-11 — NNSA added $36.3 million to Task Order 1, bringing total obligations to $266.7 million. (source)
The timeline is append-only: corrections are added as new entries. Stated targets appear in the current-state table, never as milestones.
NNN coverage
About BWX Technologies
- NNSA funding for BWXT's DUECE enrichment pilot plant hits $266.7M 2026-10-11
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About National Nuclear Security Administration
About Oak Ridge National Laboratory
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Sources
- NNSA selects BWXT for DUECE Pilot Plant Award — National Nuclear Security Administration (primary), checked 2026-10-11
- Delivery order 89233125FNA400743: Domestic Uranium Enrichment Pilot Plant Task Order 1 — USAspending.gov (primary), checked 2026-10-11
- Nuclear Fuel: Actions Needed to Enhance Cost Reporting and Economic Analysis for Federal Uranium Supply Efforts (GAO-26-107385) — U.S. Government Accountability Office (primary), checked 2026-10-11