Babcock & Wilcox Co.’s test facility for its new class of mini nuclear reactors is fully operational. The Integrated System Text facility in Bedford County, Virginia will test the mPower modular reactor’s design and performance by simulating energy generated by a nuclear core through heating the reactor electrically. The mPower reactors will generate 125-megawatts.
The facility was commissioned in February of 2010 and underwent a startup test and power ascension program and construction began in March 2010. The facility will also be used to test the thermal hydraulic performance of the company’s once through steam generator.