B&W plans reactor prototype for Bedford County research center

The Babcock & Wilcox Co. plans to build a prototype of its new mPower nuclear reactor in the Center for Advanced Engineering and Research in Bedford County, the company announced Tuesday.

The prototype would not contain nuclear material, but it would test the reactor’s design, control and systems. Those tests would provide crucial data as B&W seeks regulatory approval for the mPower reactor, with hopes of building and activating mPower reactors by 2020.

B&W is investing more than $7.6 million in the facility up-front. The Virginia Tobacco Commission is providing a $2.4 million grant for the project, which will create 10 full-time positions in B&W’s testing program.

“This really brings our reactor system from a paper reactor to the next step to making it a reality,” said Christofer Mowry, president of B&W Nuclear Energy Group. “… If we want to get this reactor approved by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, it’s not good enough just to do analysis on paper and provide them with the design. We also have to prove to them that the design works as we intend it to.”

“It truly is fascinating,” Bedford County Administrator Kathleen Guzi said of the announcement. “… It’s incredible for the entire region.”

Mowry said 200 engineers stationed in Lynchburg are working on the design for mPower. The CAER, located at the county’s New London Business & Technology Center off U.S. 460, was chosen as the site for the test reactor because it is close to the engineering activity.

“This turned out to be the best place when we looked at all our options,” he said.

The mPower prototype will be housed in a 115-foot-tall tower attached to the CAER building. C.L. Lewis Construction is building that tower, along with the rest of the building, but a B&W manufacturing unit is building the test reactor.

Doug Lee, manager of the mPower testing program, said the prototype would use electrically powered heating rods in place of nuclear fuel. B&W is working with Southside Electric Cooperative, which will provide the electricity needed to power the test reactor, he said.

Some testing could begin in the spring, but full tests could begin in the middle of 2011, Lee said.

The B&W project was just a concept when Wiley|Wilson Architects and Engineers first designed the CAER, but CAER Executive Director Bob Bailey said the design was updated so that the construction was not slowed significantly.

B&W’s mPower reactor is a small, modular reactor that would let utility companies add generation capacity in increments of 125 megawatts. Mowry said that is much more practical and affordable than large-scale nuclear reactors on the market today.

B&W plans to submit its application for NRC approval by the end of 2012. Mowry said the company hopes the application is reviewed and approved within three years. “By the middle of the decade we should be in a position to start construction on the first plant,” he said.

When the test reactor at the CAER is finished, B&W would use it to train operators to use the mPower control room.

“By locating this test facility in Central Virginia, B&W is reaffirming its commitment to make this region a hub for nuclear technologies,” Mowry said. “We believe the Lynchburg area will continue to play a vital role as we move forward in the deployment of the world’s first commercially viable small modular reactor.”

B&W currently employs about 2,400 people in the Lynchburg area.