Frank Metz gently cradles a nuclear fuel element in his brawny hands as though he’s just picked up a baby. In the background, a sheet metal press softly churns away at BWX Technologies Inc., near Lynchburg. Metz explains the complex process that transforms the innocuous piece of aluminum into something that helps fuel reactors for medical research. Other, more secret parts of his plant make assemblies that can propel submarines at 40 knots hundreds of feet below the ocean’s surface. Metz nods toward a reactor vessel that resembles something as ordinary as a keg of beer. "Nuclear reactor," he quips, "is just a fancy term for a steam engine." Those "steam engines" are making a comeback after many years of disfavor. No new atomic power stations have been ordered in nearly three decades, in part because of public outcry over the Three Mile Island accident in 1979. On the military side, the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s diminished the need for fuel for Navy submarines and aircraft carriers. This spelled bad news for Lynchburg, which hosts two major nuclear industry facilities. One is BWXT, which makes 90 percent of the nuclear fuel assemblies for Navy ship reactors. Another, French-owned Framatome, makes fuel assemblies and provides services for commercial nuclear power stations. "About five years ago, we were wondering if we’d be in business now," says Bill Warner, manager, marketing communications for Framatome.

Yet today, the atomic industry suddenly is back in vogue. In coming years, Lynchburg could see upwards of several hundred highly-paid engineers move to its environs. Looming energy deregulation and the debacle of power blackouts in California has underlined the need for new generation capacity. To help meet demand, scores of commercial power plants in the U.S., including Dominion Virginia Power’s Surry and North Anna power stations, are up for relicensing. Framatome is likely to win much of the related overhaul work. A new generation of attack submarines means a multi- year-long backlog in orders for nuclear fuel assemblies from BWXT, which is owned by McDermott International of New Orleans.

Already, BWXT brass plans to hire about 450 engineers, technicians and other highly skilled personnel over the next four years, in part to address fuel needs for up to 31 new Virginia class attack submarines to be built in coming years. Adding a large number of new workers at the top secret nuclear plant is a tough task, says Winfred D. Nash, vice president and general manager. Most will need advanced technical skills and be able to pass a rigorous background security check. "That process could take up to six months," says Nash. Nearly one third of BWXT’s 1,800 employees possess some type of technical degree.

BWXT has a creepy aura of secrecy. Its main production facility, nestled in a small valley a few miles east of Lynchburg, is surrounded by bales of concertina barbed wire and signs warning against taking pictures. Several guard towers dot the roof of the facility guarded by a private police force that’s larger than Lynchburg’s. The plant has been there since 1956, when the company — then known as Babcock & Wilcox —relocated from Ohio, because the Navy wanted a secure facility in a remote spot that wasn’t too far from Washington. Aside from Metz’s behind-the-scenes tour of unclassified work on medical diagnostic targets and research reactors, BWXT remains cloaked in mystery. BWXT contributed up to $115 million in revenue to McDermott last year. BWXT has invested $20 million in capital improvements associated with work for the next class of aircraft carriers due this decade.

Besides continuing with the Navy work, BWXT is expanding efforts in clean-up projects. Its BWXT Services Inc. unit is managing the cleanup of 10 U.S. Department of Energy sites across the country. The firm has landed a pair of contracts worth $4 billion over five years to scour DOE sites in Oak Ridge, Tenn., and Amarillo, Texas, and turn them into commercially-viable property. "It involves taking something you don’t want from a site — namely nuclear waste — putting it in a storage container and sending it where it can be stored for a long time," says John A. Fees, president of BWXT Services.

Environmental groups in Virginia shudder at that idea, claiming the need to remove and store radioactive waste renders nuclear power an ineffective and hazardous option. "The problem with nuclear power," says Glen Besa, director of the Virginia chapter of the Sierra Club, "is there is no place to dump the waste. That makes every nuclear reactor a waste dump and makes the people living near the reactors vulnerable."

The unresolved issue will intensify before it diminishes. Many nuclear power plants are approaching the end of their 40-year operating licenses, granted by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) in the mid-1960s. Power companies can apply for a 20-year extension of the license, although through May only a handful had done so.

Making sure these older nuclear facilities comply with current NRC regulations requires massive retooling — a potentially ripe source of business for Framatome. From its U.S. headquarters in Lynchburg, the company provides nuclear services to about 35 domestic commercial reactors. Framatome, whose chief competitors are Westinghouse Electric Co. and General Electric, is gearing up to meet the demand of retrofitting old nukes. "We’ll be adding around 300 to 400 people within five years just to keep up with demand," says Tom Christopher, Framatome’s CEO. The hiring frenzy would swell employment ranks to 1,600 to 1,700 workers.

Framatome also provides maintenance outage work aimed at helping power plants achieve rate benchmarks set by public utilities regulators. Additionally, Framatome gives Region 2000 a shot of international prestige under its unique domestic ownership. Framatome’s Paris-based parent, Framatome ANP, owns two-thirds of the U.S. operations and Siemens, a Germany-based company, owns the remainder. The arrangement also positions Lynchburg as a hub of nuclear services to companies around the globe, says Christopher.