nuclear weapons

New owners of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories have extensive nuclear weapons connections

hendricksonjones 3 Comments

Nuclear weapons are an existential threat to life on Earth and need to be abolished.

Concerned Citizens and other civil society groups are concerned about the nuclear weapons connections of US-based multinational corporations contracted to operate Canadian Nuclear Laboratories. Some new facilities being built or proposed at Chalk River Laboratories are aimed at handling tritium and plutonium, both of which are key ingredients in nuclear warheads.

The current owner/operator of Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, “Nuclear Laboratory Partners of Canada,” assumed ownership in December 2025 under a 6-year, multibillion dollar contract with the Government of Canada. It consists of three US-based corporations: BWXT, Amentum, and Battelle. A fourth corporation, Kinectrics, was recently acquired by BWXT.

Here is what Perplexity Pro told us about nuclear weapons connections of BWXT, Amentum and Batelle.

BWXT

BWXT has significant connections to U.S. nuclear weapons programs through its work with government agencies and defense contracts.bwxt+1​

Key Contracts

BWXT manages high-consequence nuclear operations for the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA), which oversees the U.S. nuclear weapons stockpile. In 2025, it secured a $1.5 billion contract from NNSA to build a uranium enrichment facility for defense applications, including tritium production—a key component in nuclear weapons.reuters+2​

The company manufactures nuclear reactor components for U.S. Navy submarines and aircraft carriers, including Virginia-class and Columbia-class vessels, under multi-billion-dollar contracts like a $2.6 billion award in 2025. BWXT holds licenses for depleted uranium fabrication for defense and has handled highly enriched uranium from down-blended nuclear weapon cores.reddit+3​

Historical Context

BWXT was previously involved in tritium production for the U.S. nuclear arsenal. Subsidiaries like Nuclear Fuel Services support these government programs.dontbankonthebomb+1​

Amentum

Amentum has substantial nuclear weapons connections through U.S. and UK defense contracts for weapons facilities, plutonium processing, tritium operations, and national security sites.amentum+2​

U.S. Weapons Complex

Amentum manages the Pantex Plant (nuclear weapons assembly/disassembly) and Y-12 National Security Complex (uranium components for weapons) under a $28 billion NNSA contract via NPOne JV. It supports Los Alamos plutonium facilities, Savannah River pit production, and naval nuclear propulsion for ballistic missile submarines.amentum+3​

Plutonium and Remediation

The company decommissions plutonium-contaminated facilities at U.S. sites like Hanford’s Plutonium Finishing Plant and UK’s Low Level Waste Repository, plus Portsmouth uranium enrichment for weapons.amentum+2​

UK AWE (Atomic Weapons Establishment)Involvement

Amentum serves as Delivery Partner for AWE’s Enriched Uranium Components Programme at Aldermaston, handling enriched uranium for UK nuclear warheads, decommissioning gloveboxes, and program management.amentum+2​

Battelle

Battelle Memorial Institute has deep historical and ongoing connections to nuclear weapons programs, including direct contributions to the Manhattan Project and management of key NNSA national laboratories involved in weapons research.battelle+2​

Manhattan Project Role

During World War II, 400 Battelle researchers fabricated plutonium from uranium for atomic bomb cores. This work positioned Battelle as a leader in nuclear research, including extruding uranium fuel for early reactors at Oak Ridge.wikipedia+2​

National Labs Management

Battelle manages or co-manages eight DOE national labs central to nuclear security, such as Los Alamos National Laboratory (plutonium pits for weapons via Triad National Security, LLC), Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, and Savannah River National Laboratory (nuclear materials management). These labs support stockpile stewardship, pit production, and nuclear deterrence under NNSA.battelle+4​

Additional Ties

Battelle developed nuclear fuel rods for naval reactors like the USS Nautilus and provided Environment, Health and Safety support at Pantex Plant, the primary site for weapons assembly/disassembly. It oversees chemical weapons demilitarization and biodefense tied to nuclear security missions.battelle+3​

References:

BWXT

  1. https://www.bwxt.com/sectors/complex-site-operations/nuclear-operations/
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BWX_Technologies
  3. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/bwx-technologies-secures-15-billion-contract-us-nuclear-weapons-agency-2025-09-16/
  4. https://www.ans.org/news/2025-09-17/article-7374/nnsa-awards-bwxt-15b-defense-fuels-contract/
  5. https://www.reddit.com/r/UraniumSqueeze/comments/1nz1a3c/is_bwxt_the_overlooked_sleeping_nuclear_tech/
  6. https://www.bwxt.com/bwxt-announces-2-6-billion-in-contracts-for-naval-nuclear-reactor-components/
  7. https://www.dontbankonthebomb.com/bwxt/
  8. https://cardinalnews.org/2024/07/05/lynchburg-firm-aims-to-advance-nuclear-technology-in-space/
  9. https://www.world-nuclear-news.org/articles/bwxt-launches-advanced-nuclear-fuel-subsidiary
  10. https://www.purdue.edu/newsroom/2025/Q4/purdue-bwxt-forge-strategic-collaboration-to-advance-nuclear-innovation

Amentum

  1. https://www.amentum.com/our-capabilities/mission-modernization-sustainment/nuclear-security-and-deterrence/
  2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amentum_(company)
  3. https://www.amentum.com/news/amentum-team-awarded-28-billion-y-12-national-security-complex-and-pantex-plant-management-contract/
  4. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/bwx-technologies-secures-15-billion-contract-us-nuclear-weapons-agency-2025-09-16/
  5. https://www.amentum.com/project/supporting-our-nations-weapons-defense-system-with-advanced-conduct-of-operations-and-best-in-class-operational-readiness-at-los-alamos-national-laboratory-lanl/
  6. https://www.amentum.com/news/amentum-team-awarded-21-billion-integrated-mission-completion-contract-at-the-savannah-river-site/
  7. https://www.amentum.com/project/decommissioning-plutonium-contaminated-material-facilities-at-the-llwr-uk/
  8. https://www.amentum.com/news/amentum-led-jv-helps-treat-and-dispose-of-nuclear-waste-in-hanford/
  9. https://virginiabusiness.com/amentum-led-team-receives-5-87b-nuke-cleanup-contract/
  10. https://www.amentum.com/project/enriched-uranium-components-programme/
  11. https://www.bwxt.com/sectors/complex-site-operations/nuclear-operations/
  12. https://www.onr.org.uk/publications/regulatory-reports/site-specific-reports/inspection-records/2024/08/atomic-weapons-establishment-aldermaston-inspection-id-53309

Battelle

  1. https://www.battelle.org/history/space-age
  2. https://www.battelle.org/laboratory-management
  3. https://www.bwxt.com/sectors/complex-site-operations/nuclear-operations/
  4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battelle_Memorial_Institute
  5. https://www.energy.gov/sites/default/files/2021-07/DEC%20-%20Battelle%20%20Memorial%20Institute%20signed%201-23-1983.pdf
  6. https://matternews.org/voices/anduril-teach-in-highlights-ohio-states-long-developed-military-connections/
  7. https://www.latinousa.org/2025/10/28/armsracelosalamos/
  8. https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/bwx-technologies-secures-15-billion-contract-us-nuclear-weapons-agency-2025-09-16/
  9. https://www.battelle.org/markets/national-security/cbrne-defense/threat-awareness
  10. https://www.ornl.gov/content/who-we-are-and-who-we-arent
  11. https://news.tamus.edu/texas-am-system-part-of-bwxt-led-team-awarded-30-billion-management-and-operating-contract-for-national-nuclear-security-administrations-pantex-plant/
  12. https://inside.battelle.org/blog-details/operating-large-research-infrastructure-requires-a-wide-variety-of-skilled-professionals

The photo above shows Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, 180 km upstream of Ottawa Gatineau on the Ottawa River. It is now wholly owned by US based corporations with extensive ties to nuclear weapons production.

Civilian nuclear and military nuclear members of a “mutual admiration society” ~ Dr. Gordon Edwards

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by Dr. Gordon Edwards, President of the Canadian Coalition for Nuclear Responsibility

December 19, 2020

Civilian nuclear and military nuclear have always been friendly room-mates, members of a “mutual admiration” society. In today’s announcement of an SMR Action Plan, Natural Resources Minister Seamus O’Regan said that nuclear power in Canada is a “home-grown” technology and referred to C. D. Howe’s role in this connection.  In fact C.D. Howe arranged for all Canadian uranium extracted from Canadian mines to be sold to the US military for use in tens of thousands of nuclear weapons from 1945 to 1965. C D Howe was also on the Committee that met in Washington DC in 1944 to approve the first nuclear reactors to be built in Canada (at Chalk River) as part of the ongoing effort to produce plutonium for use as a nuclear explosive. Mr. Howe approved of the policy of selling plutonium produced at Chalk River to the US military for weapons use, a practice that continued until 1975 and beyond. Plutonium from Chalk River was sent to Britain (it was the first sample of plutonium that Britain had ever obtained) just a few months before Britain detonated its first A-Bomb in the Monte Bello Islands off Australia. 


To the best of my knowledge, no civilian nuclear power agency – not the Canadian Nuclear Association, nor the Canadian Nuclear Society, nor the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, nor Atomic Energy of Canada Limited, nor Canadian Nuclear Laboratories, NOBODY – has ever issued a clear statement denouncing nuclear weapons or even calling for a nuclear weapons free world. Most nuclear scientists and engineers feel a strong kinship and camaraderie with those who are in the nuclear weapons business. The same goes for those in the nuclear division of Natural Resources Canada. I remember on one occasion (prior to the exchange of nuclear tests between India and Pakistan) I expressed alarm at the fact that both neighbours are developing a nuclear war-fighting capability and a couple of senior civil servants said “Would that be so bad? Maybe that’s just what the world needs. More deterrence. Creates stability”


Despite regular denials from our puppet masters that civilian nuclear has nothing to do with military nuclear, it is clear that civilian nuclear (including the frankly discriminatory provisions of the NPT) has adopted an appeasement policy that will never succeed in bringing about a nuclear weapons free world. Why does Canada continue to sell uranium to countries that are in the process of investing hundreds of billions to improve and modernize the nuclear arsenals in utter defiance of the NPT, knowing that the vast bulk of Canadian uranium that is rejected from enrichment plants as DU end up as the raw material for producing plutonium for Bombs, and that the lion’s share of the explosive power – and the overwhelming share of the radioactive fallout – of every H-bomb comes from the fissioning of DU atoms that are freely accessed by the military even if they are the leftovers of “peaceful” fuel production for nuclear power plants?

“See ‘The Nuclear Fudge’ at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lK65S5eHRQ&feature=youtu.be“. This 16-minute W5 segment from the Regan era is very informative. The photo below is a screen shot from the video.

How investment in SMRs supports “defense nuclear programs”

hendricksonjones 3 Comments

1. Rolls-Royce, 2017, ‘UK SMR: A National Endeavour’, https://www.uknuclearsmr.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/V2088-Rolls-Royc…

“The indigenous UK supply chain that supports defence nuclear programmes requires significant ongoing support to retain talent and develop and maintain capability between major programmes. Opportunities for the supply chain to invest in new capability are restricted by the limited size and scope of the defence nuclear programme. A UK SMR programme would increase the security, size and scope of opportunities for the UK supply chain significantly, enabling long-term sustainable investment in people, technology and capability.

“Expanding the talent pool from which defence nuclear programmes can draw from would bring a double benefit. First, additional talent means more competition for senior technical and managerial positions, driving excellence and performance. Second, the expansion of a nuclear-capable skilled workforce through a civil nuclear UK SMR programme would relieve the Ministry of Defence of the burden of developing and retaining skills and capability. This would free up valuable resources for other investments.”