B&W restructures commercial nuclear business
12 January 2012
Babcock & Wilcox (B&W) is to restructure its commercial nuclear business, separating its small modular reactor operations from its other nuclear energy related businesses.
The company said that the move was in response to "changing market conditions, growth opportunities and the continuing progress of its small modular reactor (SMR) business."
Christofer Mowry has been named as president of Babcock & Wilcox Modular Nuclear Energy Inc (B&W MNE), which will comprise all operations related to the research, development and deployment of B&W's mPower SMR technology. An existing majority-owned subsidiary called Generation mPower will now report to B&W MNE.
Meanwhile, all of B&W's other commercial nuclear operations - including global services, equipment manufacturing and all related sales initiatives - will be grouped under the existing Babcock & Wilcox Nuclear Energy Inc (B&W NE) business unit. Michael Lees has been named as president of this organization.
Previously, the company's SMR activities had been included in the B&W NE business unit. It has three other business units: Power Generation, Technical Services and Nuclear Operations.
Mary Pat Salomone, senior vice president and COO of B&W, commented: "Our SMR program is entering a crucial period for strategic growth, while our commercial nuclear business continues to move forward at an accelerated pace." She added, "To be successful, both initiatives demand complete focus."
In June 2009, B&W announced plans to develop and deploy a scalable, modular nuclear power reactor. The 125 MWe mPower design is an integral pressurised water reactor designed to be factory-made and tranported to the site by rail. Bechtel later entered into a formal alliance with B&W to design, license and deploy the design. At the time of its launch, B&W said that it had already received a letter of intent from Tennessee Valley Authority to begin the process of evaluating a potential lead site for the mPower reactor.
Researched and written
by World Nuclear News