BWX Technologies — which has a facility in Peterborough — says its subsidiary BWXT Nuclear Energy Canada has been awarded a $168-million, five-year contract extension with Ontario Power Generation.
The deal will see BWXT continue to manufacture fuel for OPG’s Darlington and Pickering nuclear-generating stations.
“We are proud to be continuing our role in producing fuel bundles for OPG’s nuclear fleet,” stated John MacQuarrie, president, BWXT Canada Ltd. and BWXT NEC.
“This contract represents clean, low-cost and reliable electricity for millions of people in Ontario and sustains hundreds of high-value jobs across our facilities in Peterborough, Toronto and Arnprior.”
BWXT says its Canadian operations will “directly benefit” from the contract extension. The Arnprior operation produces zirconium-alloy tubes, while the Toronto facility produces natural uranium pellets. These components are then shipped to the BWXT Peterborough facility where they are assembled into fuel bundles.
OPG says safe operation of its nuclear fleet is the company’s number one priority.
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“We are pleased to award this five-year contract extension to manufacture fuel for our Pickering and Darlington Stations,” said Glenn Jager, OPG nuclear president and chief nuclear officer.
“BWXT has a long history of supplying reliable, high-quality fuel that meets the stringent requirements of reactor operating conditions. The nuclear industry contributes over $5 billion annually to the Canadian economy and supports about 50,000 jobs in Ontario. BWXT is a large part of the success of nuclear in this province.”
Peterborough MPP Jeff Leal congratulates both companies on the “important contract.”
“Ontario’s nuclear industry is an important economic engine in this province and it is great to feel those benefits right here in Peterborough,” said Leal.
BWXT NEC has been manufacturing fuel for OPG since the early 1970s, when the first fleet of Pickering reactors came online. Later, BWXT NEC manufactured fuel for the Bruce and Darlington reactors as they came online throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s. Today, and for the past 17 years, BWXT NEC has been the sole fuel manufacturing supplier to OPG.
BWX Technologies is headquartered in Lynchburg, VA. with nine major operating sites in the U.S. and Canada. It acquired the former GE Hitachi Nuclear Energy site on Monaghan Road in Peterborough in 2016 and leases facilities and land.
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