Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. is an American energy technology and service provider that is active and has operations in many international markets with its headquarters in
Akron, Ohio. Historically, the company is best known for their
steam boilers.
Background
The company was founded in 1867 in
Providence, Rhode Island, by partners
Stephen Wilcox and
George Babcock to manufacture and market Wilcox's patented
water-tube boiler.[2] 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
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 first U.S. built nuclear-powered surface ship,
NS Savannah (1961).[3]
History
The company was founded in 1867 by
Stephen Wilcox, Jr. and his partner
George Herman Babcock with the intention of building safer steam boilers. Stephen Wilcox first avowed that “there must be a better way” to safely generate power, and he and George Babcock responded with the design for the first inherently safe water-tube boiler. B&W was the main builder of naval boilers for American forces during World War II, and were a supplier to the
Manhattan Project. After the war they entered the
nuclear reactor business, and became a major supplier for commercial nuclear power plants. They also built naval nuclear reactors, including for the
first commercial nuclear ship. In 2000 the company filed for bankruptcy due to lawsuits from employees over
asbestos exposure; they emerged from bankruptcy in 2006.
In 1867,
Stephen Wilcox, Jr. and his partner
George Herman Babcock, of Providence, Rhode Island, patented their so-called safety boiler (“Improvements in Steam Generators,” U.S. Patent No. 65,042). Its water was dispersed in many small tubes that resisted exploding when heated, a significant advance over conventional shell boilers, whose water was concentrated in a single container. When overheated, seams of the shell could burst, causing an explosion, often with fatal consequences. The water tube boiler had the added advantages that it could generate steam under higher pressure and more efficiently than existing designs.[4][5]
In 1891,
Babcock & Wilcox Ltd is established as a separate United Kingdom company, to be responsible for all sales outside the US and Cuba.[6]
In 1895, Supply of steam furnaces of Kahrizak sugar factory, Tehran, Iran [7]
In 1898, Robert Jurenka and Alois Seidl signed an agreement with the British division of
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.[8]
In 1902, the New York City's first subway is powered by B&W boilers.[9]
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.
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 for amounts far less than settlements paid in individual personal injury lawsuits.[14][15]
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 & Wilcox Companies, headed by President John Fees. The old company logo was changed.[16]
On June 10, 2009, B&W unveiled B&W Modular Nuclear Energy, LLC (B&W MNE).[17] 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.[18] The reactor is set to be manufactured in a factory, shipped by rail, then buried underground.[19][20]
On May 12, 2010, B&W announced that it and its subsidiaries would be spun off from its parent company, McDermott International, Inc.[21] The headquarters moved from
Lynchburg, Virginia to Charlotte.[22] and the company became The Babcock & Wilcox Company.
On June 30, 2015, Babcock & Wilcox completed a
spinoff from
BWX Technologies, its former parent company. The two companies began trading separately on July 1 when Babcock & Wilcox Enterprises, Inc. was listed on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol: BW.[24]
On September 24, 2018, Babcock & Wilcox announced that it would move its corporate headquarters from Charlotte to
Akron, Ohio, into space formerly occupied by the
Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company prior to its move to a new building nearby.
On December 30, 2019, Babcock & Wilcox relocated its corporate headquarters from
Barberton, Ohio, to Akron, Ohio.