
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, April 2, 1991                   TAG: 9104020154
SECTION: BUSINESS                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: LYNCHBURG                                LENGTH: Short

NEW N-REACTORS MAY MEAN LYNCHBURG JOBS

A dozen years ago, the near meltdown of a Babcock & Wilcox-designed commercial nuclear power reactor at Three Mile Island put the company out of that line of business.

Now, B&W is easing back into the field, developing a new generation of smaller and safer reactors, even though it doesn't expect utilities to build them right away.

By the end of this year, B&W plans to form a new company with two foreign counterparts, Framatome of France and Siemens of Germany, to promote a new generation of commercial reactors in the United States.

B&W designed only eight reactors before Three Mile Island. But Framatome has designed 66 projects and Siemens has built 36.

"When we revitalize nuclear power, whatever we do is going to be watched very carefully around the world," said Charles W. Pryor Jr., general manager of B&W's nuclear power company, B&W Nuclear Technologies. "What we do here has a monumental impact."

Babcock & Wilcox has survived since the 1979 incident at the Pennsylvania reactor by expanding service to existing plants and by becoming the Navy's sole source of fuel for its nuclear-powered ships.

Babcock & Wilcox earned more than $400 million in revenue in the fiscal year ended Monday. Officials said the company could double its income overnight with work on new reactors and add hundreds of high-paying jobs to its 4,200 payroll in Lynchburg. - Associated Press

by CNB