Michele Kearney's Nuclear Wire

Major Energy and Environmental News and Commentary affecting the Nuclear Industry.

Thursday, July 19, 2012

mPower Small Modular Reactor Test Facility Now Operational

mPower Small Modular Reactor Test Facility Now Operational

mPower small modular reactor. Source: Generation mPowerA test facility billed as the first of its kind is now operational in Virginia to study the mPower small modular reactor design.

In a release Wednesday, Babcock and Wilcox announced its Integrated System Test facility in Bedford County, Va., has achieved full operating conditions.

“Technology validation facilities like the IST are critical to our country’s ability to bring an innovative nuclear reactor to market and help meet the growing power generation needs of the U.S. and the world," Babcock and Wilcox mPower President Christofer M. Mowry said in the announcement.

The company can now test systems within the 180 megawatt SMR design under real-life conditions. It is built to full scale and uses electricity to create the heat that would be produced by uranium fuel. According to B&W, both primary and secondary systems have achieved full reactor operating pressures and temperatures since commissioning in February.
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