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November 9–12, 2025
Washington, DC|Washington Hilton
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NNSA awards BWXT $1.5B defense fuels contract
The Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration has awarded BWX Technologies a contract valued at $1.5 billion to build a Domestic Uranium Enrichment Centrifuge Experiment (DUECE) pilot plant in Tennessee in support of the administration’s efforts to build out a domestic supply of unobligated enriched uranium for defense-related nuclear fuel.
J. G. Delene
Fusion Science and Technology | Volume 19 | Number 3 | May 1991 | Pages 807-812
Advanced Reactor | doi.org/10.13182/FST91-A29443
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
The projected cost of electricity (COE) for conventional tokamak fusion plants is compared with that from current and advanced nuclear fission and coal-fired plants. Fusion cost models were adjusted for consistency with advanced fission plants and the calculational methodology and cost factors follow guidelines recommended for cost comparisons of advanced fission reactors. The results show COEs of about 59–74 mills/kWh for the fusion designs considered. In comparison, COEs for future fission reactors are estimated to be in the 43–54 mills/kWh range with coal-fired plant COEs of about 53–69 mills/kWh ($2–3/GJ coal). The principal cost driver for the fusion plants relative to fission plants is the fusion island cost. Although the estimated COEs for fusion are greater than those for fission or coal, the costs are not so high as to preclude fusion's competitiveness as a safe and environmentally sound alternative.