Metal Powder Works extends Westinghouse partnership for advanced nuclear powder feedstock

Metal Powder Works (MPW) has secured a three-month contract extension with Westinghouse Electric Company, advancing their multi-year collaboration on powder feedstock for advanced nuclear applications. The new phase focuses on further optimizing MPW's patented DirectPowder process, which converts metal bar stock into high-quality powder without melting or contamination, using specialty alloys including CP-Ti and Zircaloy. The goal is to raise the Technology Readiness Level of components under development and improve end-product performance. Managing Director John Barnes cited the solid performance of the DirectPowder process and the combined technical teams as the basis for Westinghouse's continued confidence.

This partnership matters because it addresses a persistent bottleneck in nuclear AM: the availability of high-purity, contamination-free powder for reactive and specialty alloys like Zircaloy, which are critical for reactor components but difficult to produce via conventional gas atomization. MPW's solid-state DirectPowder process avoids the oxidation and inclusion risks of melt-based methods, offering a cleaner feedstock pathway for safety-critical nuclear parts. The energy vertical remains fragmented and early in AM adoption, but nuclear applications carry the highest qualification burden after aerospace. A materials-supply solution that can demonstrate repeatable quality for Zircaloy and CP-Ti directly supports the broader push to qualify AM for reactor internals, fuel cladding, and replacement parts — areas where lead times and supply-chain risk are acute.

For MPW, the practical next step is to demonstrate that DirectPowder can consistently meet Westinghouse's qualification metrics across multiple production runs, not just lab-scale batches. For the nuclear industry, this is a reminder that materials governance — not printer speed or build volume — remains the rate-limiting step for AM adoption in regulated environments. If MPW can scale its process to production volumes while maintaining Zircaloy purity, it will have built a defensible position in a narrow but high-value corner of the metal powder market.