BWX Technologies completes Cambridge nuclear manufacturing expansion
OPG is reassessing Darlington's first SMR budget and schedule, with its assessment due to be substantially complete by mid-2027.
Ines Halvorsen
By Thursday, a Cambridge, Ontario, nuclear manufacturing expansion announced under a C$80 million investment plan was complete, BWX Technologies, Inc. NYSEBWXT said. The April 19, 2024, plan estimated C$50 million for the expansion and about C$30 million for equipment over the following few years. Its Pickering order covers 48 steam generators for the CanAtom joint venture and was announced in January 2025 with a term exceeding seven years.
BWXT closed at US$125.68 on the NYSE at 4 p.m. EST on Nov. 11, according to NYSEBWXT. That close preceded the expansion announcement.
BWXT's Jan. 27, 2025, contract announcement valued the Pickering steam-generator work and a Darlington small modular reactor pressure-vessel order together at more than C$1 billion. The components are destined for Ontario Power Generation's nuclear stations.
The factory completion follows a Nov. 10 update in which OPG said Darlington's first SMR was no longer expected to meet its October 2030 commercial-operation target or the previously disclosed budget. It expects an assessment of the cost and schedule to be substantially complete by mid-2027.
Pickering Work Runs For More Than Seven Years
BWXT's original expansion plan aimed to support conventional large reactors, small modular reactors and advanced reactors in Canada and abroad. The April 2024 announcement scheduled construction to begin in that year's third quarter, with completion targeted for the middle of 2026.
BWXT said the expansion would be built beside its existing Cambridge plant without interrupting ongoing operations. The planned equipment investment was intended to increase capacity and improve productivity at a factory that had already manufactured hundreds of large nuclear components.
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BWXT said a significant portion of the Pickering work was booked in the fourth quarter of 2024, while the Darlington pressure-vessel order was booked in the second quarter of that year. Those bookings covered the component contracts, while Thursday's announcement marked completion of the factory expansion.
The Darlington pressure vessel contains the reactor core, coolant and support structures, according to BWXT's January 2025 announcement. BWXT identified the vessel as the largest component of the SMR technology.
Aecon Group Inc. TSEARE said on Sept. 21 that its share of newly awarded Pickering refurbishment contracts was C$1.75 billion. Its scope includes construction and major component replacement. The retube, feeder and boiler replacement work includes steam generators, fuel channels and feeders, with execution expected to begin in January 2027, pending regulatory approval.
For Darlington, OPG is assessing engineering maturity, procurement assumptions, market conditions and possible mitigation measures before establishing an updated budget and schedule. Its Nov. 10 update identified technical work still needed to establish the revised timetable.
"These pressures reflect ongoing engineering for this first-of-a-kind SMR and the resulting impacts on construction execution and supply chain performance," OPG said in the Nov. 10 update.
The next customer milestones are Pickering's conditional January 2027 execution start and substantial completion of OPG's Darlington cost and schedule assessment by mid-2027.
