B&W reactor project may power Bedford economy

If you want to see the future of nuclear power and the local economy, you can glimpse a part of it through the trees off U.S. 460 in New London.

A 110-foot tower stretches above a Bedford County business park. Soon, it will hold a prototype of the Babcock & Wilcox Company’s mPower reactor — a small nuclear generator that B&W believes will make nuclear power cheaper, safer and faster to build.

“It’s the first scaled test of the mPower reactor,” said Jeff Halfinger, vice president of B&W mPower Technology Development. “It gets us a really early look so we can finalize the design.

“It’s going to be the future of nuclear power.”

Exactly two years ago, B&W announced that it was developing the mPower reactor. Since then, the development program has brought technology and jobs to Central Virginia.

In the next two years, the company plans to ask federal regulators for the licenses that would allow an mPower reactor to be built by 2020. The Tennessee Valley Authority has signed up to be B&W’s potential first customer.

The concept behind mPower, and small modular reactors designed by B&W competitors, is to let electric utilities add nuclear generation in small blocks. While most reactors on the market today generate more than 1,000 megawatts of power, an mPower module would provide 125 megawatts. A utility could order just enough modules to meet its needs, Halfinger said.

“There are places in the world where they need 1,000 megawatts, (but) one size does not fit all,” he said. “A lot of places need 200 megawatts.”

The nuclear industry has been abuzz about small modular reactors. Westinghouse, NuScale Power and Holtec International also are working on modular designs.

Federal officials have taken note, too, said Paul Genoa, the Nuclear Energy Institute’s senior director of policy development. This week, NEI filed testimony in support of Senate Bill 512, which would support the licensing of two small modular reactors. President Obama’s proposed 2012 budget asks for money to help with licensing.

Small reactors are “important to the country and the world because they have the potential to solve important policy initiatives,” Genoa said. They could produce electricity without emitting carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and could be built entirely in U.S. factories, resulting in greater quality control and more jobs, he said.

The Lynchburg area already has seen job growth from the mPower program. About 100 B&W employees and 40 contractors are designing the reactor in a building in the Lynchpin Industrial Park off U.S. 221 in Lynchburg. The test facility that towers over U.S. 460 in Bedford County will have about 12 employees who test the mPower prototype. Later, B&W would use the test facility to train operators for utilities that purchase mPower reactors.

The region has a lot to gain from the mPower program’s success, said Bob Bailey, executive director of the Center for Advanced Engineering and Research. B&W’s test facility is part of the CAER complex that will open later this summer.

“The technology atmosphere that it fosters (is) a pretty big deal,” Bailey said. “… Anytime you have a national or international leader in any kind of technology in your region, you’re drawing a lot of positive attention to the region.”

B&W will soon add 20 to 50 more employees at the Lynchpin site. The Lynchburg Economic Development Authority, which owns the building, is spending about $200,000 to expand the parking lot to meet B&W’s needs.

Most of the new jobs pay 41 percent more than most jobs in the city, said Marjette Upshur, Lynchburg’s director of economic development.

“Those are well-paying jobs and we want to help them expand their footprint,” said Upshur. “Companies like Areva and B&W have offices all over. The more people and the more resources we can get them to commit to this area, the better off we are.”