Thursday, July 15, 2010
Mini nuclear plants in works for 2020
Babcock & Wilcox and another company reached an alliance for the mPower reactor.
The latest from The Ticker blog
A company that employs 2,400 people in the Lynchburg area announced an alliance Wednesday with a global contractor to develop and deploy the world's first commercially viable small modular nuclear power plant.
Lynchburg-based Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Energy and Bechtel Power Corp. announced the agreement at a news conference with U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., in Washington.
"The expansion of nuclear and alternative energies is achievable and reasonable in scope and cost," Webb said. "It will go a very long way toward our eventual goal of dramatically reduced carbon dioxide emissions, and as a result, it is going to be beneficial to our economy and our national health."
Babcock & Wilcox has been developing its mPower reactor, capable of generating 125 megawatts of electricity (enough to power between 75,000 and 100,000 homes) from a reactor about 12 feet wide by 75 feet long. The alliance between the corporations will be known as Generation mPower and, pending regulatory approval and other factors, could deploy its first plant by 2020, the companies said.
Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Energy is a subsidiary of Charlotte, N.C.-based Babcock & Wilcox Co., which employs 13,000 people directly and an additional 10,000 in joint ventures. The company has worked in nuclear engineering and manufacturing for more than 50 years, including building small nuclear reactors for ships. Bechtel, headquartered in San Francisco, employs 49,000 in engineering, construction and project management.
The alliance announced Wednesday is expected to generate new jobs in engineering, manufacturing and utility operations in the U.S. and Canada, the companies said.
