Jun. 10--Babcock & Wilcox Co., maker of coal and nuclear power plant parts, announced plans Wednesday for a new "modular" nuclear reactor capable of generating about 125 megawatts of electricity, enough to power about 100,000 homes.

And B&W's nuclear operations in Barberton will play a major role in the design and likely manufacture of the innovative, factory-made reactors, with the possibility of hundreds of new jobs created in upcoming years locally and elsewhere, the company's top executives said.

Under Virginia-based B&W's design, power plant operators could have as many as eight of the small reactors installed at one site to generate electricity. B&W says its design will allow it to build and deliver reactors much more quickly, and safely, than typical custom-built reactors while delivering constant, or baseload, power that does not create greenhouse gases.

"We hope to engage a commercial customer by 2011," said Brandon Bethards, chief executive officer of B&W, which is a subsidiary of Houston-based McDermott International Inc.

The advanced light water reactor, named the "B&W mPower," represents "the harvesting of decades of nuclear manufacturing and design experience to provide a cutting-edge power generation source with emissions-free operation," he said.

The reactors would be placed underground at power plant sites.

B&W expects to submit its design to the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission for certification in 2011. Following the NRC's years-long certification process, B&W's first reactor might be operating by 2018, Bethards said at a news conference in Washington.

The Tennessee Valley Authority, the largest publicly owned U.S. power company, has signed a letter of intent to evaluate a potential first site for one of the reactors.

B&W's nuclear operations in Barberton are a core part of the company's engineering and manufacturing capabilities, said Christofer Mowry, president and chief executive officer of the newly created B&W Modular Nuclear Energy LLC. The subsidiary's headquarters is in Virginia.

"They [Barberton] are involved right now from a design perspective," Mowry said.

B&W's Nuclear Operations Group has about 550 employees locally, while the larger B&W Power Generation Group, which focuses on coal-powered plants, has about 1,450 employees. The combined operations make B&W one of Summit County's largest private employers.

It is too early to say how building the new modular reactors will affect the Barberton operations, Mowry said.

"I am sure there will be significant impact there," he said. "It's a North America manufactured solution."

B&W said it expects to add up to 500 manufacturing and engineering jobs in the next few years in Ohio and elsewhere.

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