BWXT Begins NRC Review for Tennessee Uranium Enrichment Plan

BWXT has taken the first regulatory step toward a uranium enrichment plant in Erwin, Tennessee, moving a project that could add sorely needed domestic fuel-cycle capacity into U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission review. The company told the NRC on April 7 that it plans to apply for a uranium enrichment license for a new facility next to its Nuclear Fuel Services site, a move BWXT said would let the agency “can plan resources to support its review.”

The filing is not a license and does not authorize construction. It does, however, signal that BWXT is moving on a clear timetable, with the company expecting to submit its formal application in the first quarter of 2027. That filing will trigger the NRC’s full technical, environmental, and security review process, a critical gate for any enrichment project tied to defense fuel, advanced reactors, or future HALEU demand.

The Erwin location is already a heavily watched nuclear site. The NRC says Nuclear Fuel Services has operated there since 1959 under license SNM-124, which runs through August 31, 2037. The agency describes the facility as an operating fuel fabrication site in partial decommissioning status, and notes that some areas of the Erwin property, including groundwater, have been contaminated with radioactive material and chemicals. The site sits about 0.2 miles from the Nolichucky River and roughly 0.5 miles southwest of the Erwin city limits, placing environmental and emergency planning issues squarely in the foreground.

BWXT’s Erwin move fits into a broader domestic enrichment push that has accelerated across the fuel cycle. On January 26, the company said it was launching a new era of domestic uranium enrichment in Oak Ridge, Tennessee. The new Erwin facility would extend that strategy, while also supporting the $1.5 billion contract the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration awarded BWXT on September 16, 2025 for domestic uranium enrichment capability for defense purposes. The NNSA also selected BWXT Enrichment Operations, LLC for the DUECE pilot plant award that same day, covering licensing, manufacturing development, facility construction, and operations.

BWXT already has an NRC-regulated enrichment and fuel base in Lynchburg, Virginia, where its facility holds license SNM-42 and produces fuel material containing highly enriched uranium for naval reactors. Tennessee is an NRC Agreement State, but Region II in Atlanta handles NRC duties there, giving the Erwin proposal a familiar regulatory path and a closely watched public process. For a sector still constrained by enrichment bottlenecks, BWXT’s notice is a meaningful step toward another U.S. source of nuclear fuel.