Babcock & Wilcox Plans For Smaller, Cheaper Nuclear Reactors

A U.S. company on Wednesday outlined plans for factory-made nuclear reactors that it says will be smaller, cheaper and quicker to make than reactors built on location.

The announcement, by McDermott International Inc.'s (MDR) Babcock & Wilcox Co., comes amid calls from some quarters in the U.S. for greater reliance on nuclear power. As fears rise over global warming, nuclear power's supporters cite its low emissions.

Flanked by lawmakers from Tennessee and Ohio, Babcock & Wilcox executives said at a press conference that the mPower reactor would also be designed to store nuclear waste in underground containers while the U.S. develops a long-term waste storage plan.

The reactor "gives the industry much-needed options that it doesn't have today," CEO Brandon Bethards said.

The reactors would each have a capacity of 125 megawatts, or enough to power an estimated 100,000 homes. The concept is to serve smaller regional and municipal utilities that don't need lots of capacity, or who want to gradually add capacity, or scale up.

The company said it has notified the Nuclear Regulatory Commission that it plans to submit an application for design certification in 2011. It aims to submit an application for a construction permit and operating license in 2012, which would allow construction of a plant beginning in 2015, with the first reactor coming online in 2018.

Exelon Corp. (EXC) and the Tennessee Valley Authority are participating in an industry council advising on the project, but said they hadn't many any decisions about whether to buy the reactors.

"We would not make that decision today," said Jack Bailey, the vice president for nuclear generation development at the Tennessee Valley Authority. Among other things, he said, buying decisions depend on regulators signing off on the reactor's design and granting a license for construction and operation.

Republicans in the U.S. Congress have been intent on promoting nuclear power, a strategy that puts them somewhat at odds with Democrats who favor greater use of renewable energy. With the announcement of smaller, cheaper reactors that also deal with the problem of waste storage, Republicans see a technology that puts their policies on stronger political footing.

"What is historic about this is that this new reactor, which has been announced today, is a lot cheaper -- maybe a tenth as much," said Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn. He said it could be built in three years instead of six years. "This makes it possible for us to build 100 new nuclear reactors in 20 years."

-By Siobhan Hughes, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-6654; [e-mail]