BWX Technologies will make a multimillion dollar investment to create a manufacturing and research and development center to showcase their services and technology in Campbell County, Virginia.
Article continues below
The new center, called the BWXT Innovation Campus, will sit on an 11 acre property adjacent to the company’s existing facility.
Virginia successfully competed with three other states for the project, which is expected to create 97 new jobs with an average expected salary of more than $115,000 per year.
Headquartered in Lynchburg, BWXT is a Fortune 1000 and Defense News Top 100 manufacturing and engineering innovator that provides safe and effective nuclear solutions for global security, clean energy, environmental remediation, nuclear medicine and space exploration.
With approximately 6,700 employees, BWXT has 12 major operating sites in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, BWXT joint ventures provide management and operations at more than a dozen U.S. Department of Energy and NASA facilities. The company currently has three locations in central Virginia and employs 2,630 workers across those facilities.
BWXT plans to relocate 150 employees from nearby facilities to the new campus, as well as its Nuclear Services Group and research, development, and production center for new microreactors and nuclear fuels designed for space exploration and national security. BWXT expects to make significant investments in capital improvements to the facility through 2023.
The company also anticipates making substantial investments in machinery, tools, and tangible personal property over the same period of time to support the expected growth in the microreactor and fuels business. When fully developed, the Innovation Campus will serve as an exhibit of the company’s ‘factory of the future’ for visiting customers that include NASA, the Department of Defense, and the Department of Energy.
The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with Campbell County and the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance to secure the project for Virginia. Governor Northam approved a $400,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Campbell County with the project.
A performance based grant of $700,000 from the Virginia Investment Performance Grant was also given, which is designed to encourage continued capital investment by existing Virginia companies. Funding and services to support the company’s employee training activities will be provided through the Virginia Jobs Investment Program. ■