Babcock and Wilcox have gotten out of the nuclear business.
What business have they gotten into? Thermal storage of grid energy with a > 50% round trip efficiency. It heats sand with a compact resistive heater, stores the sand in insulated silos, and recovers the energy by a Brayton cycle system with a really interesting and compact fluidized bed heat exchanger. Storage capacity is sized for 100 hours of operation. Not just overnight, but four days.
What business have they gotten into? Thermal storage of grid energy with a > 50% round trip efficiency. It heats sand with a compact resistive heater, stores the sand in insulated silos, and recovers the energy by a Brayton cycle system with a really interesting and compact fluidized bed heat exchanger. Storage capacity is sized for 100 hours of operation. Not just overnight, but four days.
https://www.babcock.com/home/about/corporate/news/babcock-wi...
Westinghouse is also doing thermal grid storage now. Pumped TES can have a round trip efficiency > 60%.
https://www.energy-storage.news/nuclear-power-company-westin...