Babcock & Wilcox

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The Babcock & Wilcox Company
Type Public
Traded as NYSE: BWC
Industry Power Generation, Government Services
Founded 1867
Founder(s) Stephen Wilcox and George Herman Babcock
Headquarters Charlotte, North Carolina, United States
Area served Worldwide
Key people John A. Fees (Chairman)
James E. Ferland (President & CEO)
Mary Pat Salomone (COO)
Christofer M. Mowry (President, B&W NE)
Peyton S. (Sandy) Baker (President, B&W NOG)
Randy Data(President, B&W PGG))
George Dudich (President, B&W TSG)
Products Fossil and Nuclear Power Plants; Research and Development; Government Operations
Revenue

Increase $2.9 billion (FY 2011)

[1]
Operating income Decrease $ 235.9 million (FY 2011)[1]
Net income Increase $ 161.9 million (FY 2011)[1]
Total assets Increase $ 2.7 billion (FY 2011)[1]
Total equity Increase $ 834.9 million (FY 2011)[1]
Employees 12,700 (December 2011)[1]
Website www.babcock.com

The Babcock & Wilcox Company (B&W) is a U.S.-based company that provides design, engineering, manufacturing, construction and facilities management services to nuclear, renewable, fossil power, industrial and government customers worldwide. B&W's boilers supply more than 300,000 megawatts of installed capacity in over 90 countries around the world.[2] A reactor from B&W was destroyed by a nuclear meltdown in the Three Mile Island accident. During World War II, over half of the US Navy fleet was powered by Babcock & Wilcox boilers.[3] The company has its headquarters in Charlotte, North Carolina. It has major operations in Lynchburg, Virginia; Barberton, Ohio; Euclid, Ohio; Lancaster, Ohio; West Point, Mississippi; Mount Vernon, Indiana; Oak Ridge, Tennessee; Erwin, Tennessee, Amarillo, Texas; Cambridge, Ontario; Esbjerg, Denmark; and Straubing, Germany. B&W also has joint major joint venture companies in Beijing, China and Pune, India.[2]

B&W employs approximately 12,700 people, in addition to approximately 10,400 joint venture employees.[3]

The company was founded in 1867 by Stephen Wilcox and George Babcock as Babcock, Wilcox & Company to manufacture and market Wilcox’s patented water tube boiler. B&W’s list of innovations and firsts include the world’s first installed utility boiler (1881); manufacture of boilers to power New York City’s first subway (1902); first pulverized coal power plant (1918); design and manufacture of components for the USS Nautilus, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine (1953-55); the first supercritical pressure coal-fired boiler (1957); design and supply of reactors for the world’s first nuclear-powered ship, the NS Savannah (1961).[4]

Business units

B&W mPower, Inc.

Babcock & Wilcox mPower, Inc. was formed in 2012 to design, develop, license and deploy the B&W mPower reactor, a small modular nuclear reactor. The B&W mPower reactor – currently in development – is a scalable, modular reactor with the capacity to provide output in increments of 180 MWe for a four-year operating cycle without refueling. The business unit is headquartered in Charlotte, NC.[5]

B&W mPower Reactor

B&W announced in 2009 plans to design, develop, license and deploy a small modular nuclear reactor (SMR) called the B&W mPower reactor. The passively safe reactor has an output of 180 megawatts (electric) and is one of several SMRs in development by U.S. engineering firms. The mPower reactor features a full underground containment structure.[6] The reactor design is an integral Pressurized Water Reactor (iPWR) system in which the nuclear core and steam generators are contained within a single vessel.[7] B&W and engineering and construction firm Bechtel maintain an alliance called Generation mPower LLC to produce modular nuclear power plants using the B&W mPower reactor.[8]

More than two dozen utilities belong to the Generation mPower Industry Advisory Council and provide review, insights and feedback regarding licensing and design activities for the B&W mPower reactor. The Tennessee Valley Authority has signed a letter of intent to potentially build plants utilizing B&W mPower reactors.[9]

Nuclear Energy Group

B&W Nuclear Energy, Inc. (B&W NE) was formed in 2010 by the merger of two B&W business units, Nuclear Power Generation Group (B&W NPG) and Modular Nuclear Energy (B&W MNE). The combined company will specialize in providing products and services to the North American and worldwide commercial nuclear power industry, including the recently announced mPower modular nuclear reactor. B&W is the only North American company to continuously manufacture nuclear steam generators for the commercial nuclear power industry since the 1950s. B&W NE's headquarters are located in Charlotte, NC.

Nuclear Operations Group

B&W Nuclear Operations Group, Inc. (B&W NOG) specializes in the design and manufacture of nuclear products and services for U.S. government applications. B&W NOG has four operating locations throughout the United States. B&W NOG's Barberton, Ohio, and Mount Vernon, Indiana, locations specialize in the design and manufacture of large, heavy components. B&W NOG facilities in Lynchburg, Virginia, and Euclid, Ohio, design and supply components for United States government programs. Nuclear Fuel Services, Inc. (NFS) is a subsidiary of B&W NOG, located in Erwin, Tennessee. B&W NOG's headquarters are located in Lynchburg, Virginia.[10]

Power Generation Group

B&W Power Generation Group, Inc. (B&W PGG) is based in Barberton, Ohio and provides engineering, design, construction and manufacturing services to the fossil and renewable power generation sectors and to heavy industry worldwide. B&W PGG and its subsidiaries have facilities in Ohio; Indiana; Mississippi; Beijing, China; Esbjerg, Denmark; and technology licensees around the world.[11]

Technical Services Group

B&W Technical Services Group, Inc. (B&W TSG) manages complex, high-consequence nuclear and national security operations, including nuclear production facilities and the nation's Strategic Petroleum Reserve. B&W TSG also provides a broad range of technical services to the U.S. Department of Energy and the National Nuclear Security Administration's operations. Headquartered in Lynchburg, Virginia and with regional offices in Oak Ridge, Tenn., B&W TSG operates three businesses: managing and operating large manufacturing or site closure contracts for the U.S. government, facilitating laboratory services and managing technical services.[12] B&W TSG operates the Y-12 National Security Complex, and is a member of the Los Alamos National Security, LLC. They hold the contract to manage the Pantex plant in Texas, alongside Honeywell and Bechtel Corporation. They are also a part of Lawrence Livermore National Security, LLC (LLNS), which was awarded the Management & Operation (M&O) contract to operate Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, on May 8, 2007, to commence on October 1, 2007.

Other related companies

History

The old B&W company logo, showing the world as an Aeolipile.
Babcock & Wilcox Co. works, Bayonne, New Jersey, circa 1919
  • In 1867, Providence, Rhode Island, residents Stephen Wilcox and his partner George Herman Babcock patented the Babcock & Wilcox Non-Explosive Boiler, which used tubing to generate higher pressures and was more efficient than existing designs.[13]
  • In 1891, Babcock & Wilcox Ltd is established as a separate United Kingdom company, to be responsible for all sales outside the US and Cuba.[14]
  • In 1898, Robert Jurenka and Alois Seidl signed an agreement with the British Babcock & Wilcox Ltd to make the Berlin, Germany Babcock sales office into a subsidiary of the British company; a factory in Oberhausen in the Ruhr district made the boiler designed by the American engineers.[15]
  • In 1902 the New York City's first subway is powered by B&W boilers.[16]
  • During 1907 and 1909 Theodore Roosevelt's Great White Fleet were powered by B&W Boilers.
  • In 1929 B&W installs the world's first commercial size recovery boiler using the magnesium bisulfite process in Quebec, Canada.[17]
  • Between 1941 and 1945 B&W designed and delivered 4,100 marine boilers for combat and merchant ships, including 95 percent of the US fleet in Tokyo Bay at Japanese surrender.
  • In 1942, the company developed the cyclone furnace.
  • Between 1943 and 1945 B&W provided components, materials and process development for Manhattan Project.[13]
  • Between 1953 and 1955 B&W designed and fabricated components for USS Nautilus (SSN-571), world’s first nuclear-powered submarine .
  • In 1961 B&W designed and supplied reactors for world’s first commercial nuclear ship NS Savannah.
  • In 1962 B&W designed and furnished reactor systems for first commercial reactor, Indian Point, using HEU 233.
  • In 1975 B&W designed and built components for liquid metal fast breeder reactors.
  • In 1975 the long term business agreements with the British Babcock & Wilcox Ltd were ended. Subsequently, the British company was renamed Babcock International Group plc.
  • In 1978 B&W designed and built the nuclear reactor that was involved in the Three Mile Island accident.
  • In 1999 B&W was awarded the contract to develop fuel cells and steam reforming for US Navy.
  • On February 22, 2000, B&W filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in part as a result of thousands of claims for personal injury due to prolonged exposure to asbestos and asbestos fibers. Claims included asbestosis, lung cancer, pleural and peritoneal mesothelioma. As a condition of emerging from bankruptcy, B&W created a trust fund to compensate victims, but for amounts far less than settlements paid in individual personal injury lawsuits.[18]
  • After B&W emerged from bankruptcy in 2006, B&W and BWX Technologies, both subsidiaries of the McDermott International, Inc., merged on 26 November 2007 to form The Babcock and Wilcox Companies, headed by President John Fees. The old company logo was changed.
  • On June 10, 2009, B&W unveiled B&W Modular Nuclear Energy, LLC (B&W MNE).[19] On the same day, B&W MNE announced its plans to design and develop the B&W mPower reactor, a modular, scalable nuclear reactor. The B&W mPower reactor design is a 125 megawatt, passively safe Advanced Light Water Reactor (ALWR) (a Generation III reactor) with a below-ground containment structure.[20] The reactor is set to be manufactured in a factory, shipped by rail, then buried underground.[21][22]
  • On May 12, 2010, B&W announced that it and its subsidiaries would be spun off from its parent company, McDermott International, Inc.[23]
  • On August 2, 2010, B&W began trading on the New York Stock Exchange as BWC.[24]

See also

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 "The Babcock & Wilcox Company 2011 Annual Report, Form 10-K, Filing Date Feb 29, 2012". secdatabase.com. Retrieved June 25, 2012. 
  2. http://pdf.secdatabase.com/917/0001193125-12-089188.pdf
  3. http://pdf.secdatabase.com/917/0001193125-12-089188.pdf
  4. Steam/its generation and use, 41st Edition
  5. http://www.babcock.com/about/business_units/mpower/
  6. http://www.platts.com/RSSFeedDetailedNews/RSSFeed/ElectricPower/6496851
  7. http://atomicinsights.com/2010/07/generation-mpower-modular-reactor-team-that-is-aiming-for-turn-key-units-with-predictable-schedules-and-costs.html
  8. http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-TVA_progresses_with_mPower_project-1706115.aspx
  9. http://www.babcock.com/library/pdf/E2011000.pdf
  10. http://www.babcock.com/library/pdf/E4011000.pdf Nuclear Operations for a Secure Tomorrow
  11. http://www.babcock.com/library/pdf/E1013191.pdf Power Generation for the Future
  12. http://www.babcock.com/library/pdf/E3011000.pdf Technical Services that Deliver Solutions
  13. 13.0 13.1 "About B&W - History". Archived from the original on 1 April 2009. Retrieved 2009-04-01. 
  14. "Records of Babcock International Group plc." Glasgow University Archive Services
  15. "Deutsche Babcock AG--Company History". fundinguniverse.com. Retrieved 2010-05-25. 
  16. "Records of Babcock International Group plc, boiler makers and engineers, England". Retrieved 2009-04-28. 
  17. "B&W Power Generation Group: Company History". Retrieved 2009-04-01. 
  18. http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Babcock+&+Wilcox+Bankruptcy+Reorganization+Bar+Date+Notice+and+Claims...-a067463016 Babcock & Wilcox Bankruptcy Reorganization Bar Date Notice and Claims Process Begins; Includes Apollo and Parks Township, Pennsylvania Nuclear Contamination And Radiation Claims
  19. http://www.ohio.com/news/break_news/47655382.html Babcock & Wilcox plans modular reactor
  20. http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN-BandW_unveils_modular_reactor_design-1006095.html B&W unveils modular nuclear power design
  21. DiSavino, Scott (Jun 10, 2009). "McDermott B&W unit unveils small nuclear reactor". Reuters. Retrieved Jun 10, 2009. 
  22. Katherine Ling and GreenWire (June 10, 2009). "Company Calls New Small Nuclear Reactor a 'Game Changer'". New York Times. Retrieved June 10, 2009. 
  23. Gentry, B.:http://www2.newsadvance.com/lna/business/local/article/fees_bw_spinoff_aiming_for_june_30_completion/26899/, The News & Advance, May 12, 2010
  24. "The Babcock & Wilcox Company Begins Trading Today on the New York Stock Exchange". BUSINESS WIRE. Aug 2, 2010. Retrieved Aug 4, 2010. 

External links

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