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FOXBORO - A reinvigorated nuclear power industry, long stagnant in the United States, is expected to provide a major lift to Texas-based Invensys Process Systems and bring additional jobs to the company's plant in Foxboro, corporate officials say.

IPS, which recently won a $250 million contract to supply automation for two Chinese nuclear power plants, will manage the delivery of its technology from its Foxboro manufacturing complex and could hire up to 100 additional engineers and managers to support a new "center for nuclear excellence."

The company's business is limited to providing controls and technology for operating nuclear plants and will not be dealing with atomic materials or bringing fissile material into Foxboro, a company spokesman stressed.

IPS, a global technology, consulting and software company, is also creating a new engineering and support center in its Neponset Street plant to serve the nuclear industry, along with a similar center in Irvine, Calif.

Additional nuclear technology centers would be opened around the world as demand for new and upgraded nuclear facilities increases, said Jack Souza, IPS vice president for nuclear delivery operations. Thomas Szudajski, vice president for the company's global nuclear industry, said IPS has been laying the ground work for nuclear business in China for the past five years. It won the contract last November after extensive negotiations.

Under the contract, IPS would control four large-scale, digital nuclear control rooms, along with the latest simulation technologies, critical control and safety systems.

The deal would also include some transfer of technology to the Chinese, Szudajski said.

The plants, which will be under the supervision of the China National Nuclear Corp., will be in Fuijan and Zhejiang provinces and are expected to take about 4 1/2 years to complete.

"We think it's extremely exciting," said Szudajski, who was involved in the negotiations.

In the United States, development of new nuclear power plans has been effectively stalled since the 1980s, after a nuclear accident involving the Three Mile Island atomic power plant raised additional safety concerns regarding the use of nuclear reactors.

But other countries, particularly China, are looking to atomic power as a desirable alternative to traditional fuels as they seek to meet rapidly expanding electricity needs.

Company officials said they expect to compete for additional nuclear-related control contracts, including some of the 30 to 40 new reactors planned by the Chinese as part of a plan to expand nuclear to 5 percent of the nation's power supply by 2020.

Asked whether additional Chinese contracts were possible, Szudajski said he was inclined to be positive.

"'Possible' would be weak," he said. The United States has more than 100 functioning nuclear power plants whose average age is 20 to 25 years, Szudajski said. Souza said the market for replacement instrumentation and controls at existing plants is also considered a promising market for the company's products.

IPS, of which the former Foxboro Company is a major part, manufactures and distributes a variety of products ranging from industrial valves and pressure transmitters to flow controllers and temperature monitors used in industrial settings ranging from oil refineries to food processing plants.

Purchased in 1990 by Siebe PLC, Foxboro eventually became part of a family of technology firms focused on delivering process control, safety systems and solutions to manufacturers, refiners and power plants.

Over the past several years, IPS has made an effort to blend the abilities of its component companies to create new products and services, including its InFusion enterprise control system, which lets plant operators monitor the effects of factory operations to profitability on a real-time basis.

Such packaging of products and know-how into an overall solution is also a key to the nuclear industry, IPS Vice President Peter Martin said.

"Years ago, Foxboro was known for what it's product was," said Martin, who added the company now provides customers the engineering expertise as well as the products needed to design, set up and run factories and processing plants.

"Now it's known for what its product does," he said.

IPS, which employs about 1,200 people locally, continues to consider Foxboro an integral part of its operations, said Tom Clary, director of media operations.

Clary said there are no plans to close or downgrade the local plant.

Some IPS executives, who accompanied reporters on a tour of the Foxboro plant's four buildings last week, said they were aware of rumors that the company might close or downsize its existing operations, and said they hoped the latest news would underline the company's commitment to Foxboro.

Souza said efforts are already underway to staff up for its nuclear operations. A job fair was held at the plant three weeks ago and filled eight of 27 new engineering positions, he said.