Nuclear technology company Babcock & Wilcox, which has attracted international attention for its ongoing development of a small modular nuclear reactor, reported Thursday it will establish a new facility in Bedford County.

B&W provided few details. But minutes from a Dec. 8 meeting of B&W and members of the Virginia Tobacco Commission's research and development committee describe B&W's desire to build a facility in Bedford County "to test and train operators to operate the small nuclear reactors."

Bedford County Administrator Kathleen Guzi said she has been assured by B&W that there will be no nuclear materials on-site.

B&W said Thursday that the Virginia Tobacco Commission will provide a "multimillion dollar grant" to support the project. B&W is not the grant recipient. The company said it will disclose more details about the facility during a news conference at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

The facility, and the news conference, will be at the New London Business and Technology Center at U.S. 460 and Meade Road in eastern Bedford County. B&W's facility will be part of the Center for Advanced Engineering and Research, which is building a 30,000-square-foot research and education facility at the business and technology center. The tobacco commission has helped fund the research center's creation with grants totaling about $7.6 million and B&W will be an "anchor tenant" there, according to Ned Stephenson, the commission's deputy director.

Guzi said B&W's presence in the Center for Advanced Engineering and Research, and the potential success of the company's small modular reactor, could yield good things for the county and region. She said she envisions added employment in Bedford County, spinoff opportunities for suppliers, associated research projects and entrepreneurial possibilities.

Riding a wave of increased interest in nuclear power, B&W and competitors are working to develop small reactors as alternatives to the massive, costly nuclear plants currently operating or proposed.

Most recently, on July 14, B&W announced an alliance with Bechtel Power Corp., a global contractor, to continue development of B&W's mPower reactor. As envisioned, the reactor would generate about 125 megawatts of power, which could provide electricity for 75,000 to 100,000 homes.

The company has said that as development of the small reactor continues B&W will need a place to replicate and test its design, which would involve burying the reactor in an underground bunker. It says the reactor's smaller size and subterranean siting promise additional safety and security. Reactor dimensions would be about 12 feet wide by 75 feet long, (or tall, when installed). B&W's reactor would be small enough to travel by rail or similar means from the point of its manufacture to its underground home. Unlike fossil fuel-fired power plants, mPower's generation of electricity would not emit carbon dioxide.

Still, nuclear reactors of any size frequently generate concern and controversy. They produce radioactive wastes requiring secure storage. Spent fuel could tempt terrorists. Reactors consume a nonrenewable fuel source and are not pollution free. And there is always the prospect of a catastrophic event, though the nuclear industry insists great strides to ensure safety have been made since accidents at Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania in 1979 and Chernobyl, Ukraine, in 1986.

For mPower, B&W plans to apply in 2012 to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission for design certification. It anticipates bringing online one or more demonstration plants by 2020.

The company employs about 2,400 people in the Lynchburg area and has said it will add workers if the mPower reactor meets expectations.