BWX Technologies history

The company quickly became a major player in the nuclear industry when it manufactured components for the first full-scale peacetime nuclear power plant in the United States – the Shippingport Atomic Power Station in Pennsylvania – in 1957.

1958 Commanding officer and crewmen of the USS Nautilus are pictured on the bridge during a period of low visibility as the submarine prepares to pass under the north pole on August 1.

The NS Savannah, which was launched in 1959, was a key element in President Eisenhower’s Atoms for Peace Program and became an important ambassador for nuclear power throughout the world.

In 1962, commercial success continued as teams designed and furnished reactor systems for Consolidated Edison’s Indian Point Nuclear Power Plant, which led to the continued development of safe and reliable reactors for other customers.

Following the boom of success for the nuclear division, the company’s Atomic Energy Division moved its headquarters from New York City to Central Virginia in 1963.

1964 Pictured above is the reactor control console of the USS Savannah.

1967 B&W workers are on a pressure vessel head for a nuclear reactor that's being checked during manufacture at B&W's heavy vessel manufacturing facility.

The site’s workload peaked in 1975 at more than 2.3 million man-hours before declining as the Cold War ended.

1986 Pictured is a CEL employee working in the plant.

The company decontaminated and decommissioned the first plutonium laboratory in the United States and was also awarded a contract to design a Space Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (SNTP) system for NASA in 1987.

In order to continue to support the commercial nuclear industry, BWXT and French-owned Framatome SA formed a joint venture in 1989.

In 1995, BWXT was chosen to downblend a stockpile of Highly Enriched Uranium (HEU) as part of Project Sapphire.

Always looking for new opportunities, the company was contracted to design and manufacture the nuclear technology and reactor components for NASA’s Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter under Project Prometheus in 2003.

The first market basket contract was a $1.8 billion agreement signed in 2007.

The first Ford-class aircraft carrier was ordered by the United States Government in 2008, providing more work for BWXT to manufacture her reactor.

In 2010, the company relocated its headquarters to Charlotte, North Carolina, the same year in which it spun off from former parent company McDermott International, Inc.