OPINION:
For the first time in decades, America is experiencing broad, bipartisan momentum to expand nuclear energy. The Trump administration’s framework, pairing targeted investments with long overdue regulatory modernization as well as passage of the bi-partisan ADVANCE Act are the strongest signals in a generation that nuclear power will play a larger role in both our national security posture and our energy strategy. But policy alone does not build reactors, produce advanced fuels or cause complex supply chains to suddenly materialize.
The threelayer nuclear demand cake
Consonant with a favorable policy environment, we see striking public and private market demand signals for all things nuclear that could be described as “threelayer cakes.”
On the public side, Layer One is the ongoing modernization of the nuclear triad (think submarines) a pressing national security requirement that demands absolute reliability, schedule discipline and a zero defect culture. This layer is non-optional; it sets the baseline for the entire nuclear enterprise.
Layer Two is the reconstitution of Cold Warera capabilities the U.S. unwound in the 1990s, such as defense fuels and various types of uranium processing precisely the areas BWXT is moving to rebuild at industrial scale. Renewed global threats now require the U.S. to re-establish these critical capabilities. BWXT’s expansion in Tennessee, where we are scaling new facilities to meet these needs, directly supports this strategic middle layer.
The top layer represents emerging missions in new domains, from nuclear power and propulsion for cislunar space to terrestrial microreactors, where high density, resilient and long duration power enables entirely new capabilities for national security, disaster response and rapid tactical deployment.
Investing across all three layers anchored by scale is how the nation succeeds. And the need for scale doesn’t end with defense. On the commercial side, the three layers of demand are decarbonization of the electrical grid, electrification of transportation and industrial processes and the remarkable power demands of AI/data centers. All of these require reliable, long duration power that is available on demand. Nuclear uniquely offers that: reactors that run for years without refueling, with fuel sources that are widely available and not concentrated in vulnerable chokepoints.
But to fully deliver on that promise, the limiting factor isn’t technology; it’s industrialization. The companies that will win are those that can manufacture qualified hardware, produce certified fuels and create repeatable processes at volume. That is BWXT’s home field.
Re-Writing the Nuclear Narrative
There’s a persistent narrative that legacy nuclear companies can’t move fast. The facts say otherwise. When missions require speed with discipline, the advantage goes to teams that have already delivered nuclear systems under the most demanding requirements. What sets them apart is industrial scale backed by deep experiential qualifications the ability to surge capacity, meet exacting standards and deliver on schedule. As policy aligns and demand accelerates, that combination is what will turn today’s nuclear ambitions into operating assets.
We proved that last year. In April, we purchased land in Oak Ridge, Tennessee; by January, we opened a new, purpose-built factory on that same plot of land seven months after we broke ground. This new Centrifuge Manufacturing Development Facility is the key step towards re-establishing a domestic uranium enrichment capability for defense fuels.
Winning the Nuclear Resurgence
Our philosophy is simple: we’re not betting on a horse; we’re betting on the race. Whether the opportunity is gridscale plants, small modular reactors or offgrid microreactors, BWXT shows up as the merchant supplier and technology partner that can scale the sector. Sometimes that means providing picks and shovels for today’s builders; other times, it means deploying our own technologies for specialized missions. That dual posture industrial supplier and innovator gives customers options and gives the nation resilience.
For more than half a century, we’ve quietly powered America’s most demanding nuclear missions including more than 420 reactor systems for the nuclear navy. As the nation turns to nuclear for resilient grid power, emerging defense missions and accelerated energy deployment, BWXT is not starting at zero. We are compounding decades of experience across nuclear manufacturing, fuels and qualification. That compounding effect matters, because the next era of nuclear will require more than innovation. It will require industrialization at speed.
The Department of War’s Project Pele demonstrates this approach. Too often, advanced concepts stall because the industrial base isn’t ready. We approached Pele as both a technology challenge and an industrial base expansion challenge. By standing up the supply chains, processes and quality systems required for repeatable production, we are helping transform a first of a kind concept into a many of a kind factory. And while that long-term work continues, we’re simultaneously on track to meet the president’s May 2025 Executive Order timeline that directs the U.S. Army to build a nuclear reactor and begin producing electricity for military installations “within the next three years.”
America’s nuclear future will be shaped by what happens on the factory floor as much as in the laboratory or hearing room. The administration has set the stage; now it’s time to build. BWXT stands ready to drive that transition, leveraging scale and experience to meet the nation’s strategic energy needs.
• Rex Geveden is president and chief executive officer of BWXT.
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