28 July 2010
Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) will locate a test facility for its mPower nuclear reactor in central Virginia, US. The integrated system test (IST) facility will be located at the Center for Advanced Engineering and Research (CAER), which is currently being built at the New London Business and Technology Center. The IST facility will include a scaled prototype of the B&W mPower reactor that will undergo extensive testing. The technical features of the B&W mPower integral reactor are included in the IST, although the source of energy is electric rather than nuclear. The three-year project will collect data to verify the reactor design and safety performance, supporting B&W's licensing activities with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Once testing concludes, B&W expects to use the facility for on-going training of utility professionals who would be operating B&W mPower reactors. B&W anticipates the IST facility will be operational in 2011.
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