Thursday
Nov192009
Hyperion Launch Design of Power Module
Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 03:23PM 
In todays mail bag is this missive from Hyperion regarding the progress that they have made in terms of the design of their mini nuclear power plant.
WASHINGTON, D.C. and LONDON, ENGLAND, November 18, 2009 - At the Annual Winter Conference of the American Nuclear Society in Washington today, and simultaneously at the "Powering Toward 2020" conference in London, England, Hyperion Power Generation Inc. revealed the design for the first version of the Hyperion Power Module (HPM) that it intends to have licensed and manufactured at facilities in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
The HPM is a safe, self-contained, simple-to-operate nuclear power reactor, which is small enough to be manufactured en masse and transported in its entirety via ship, truck, or rail. Euphemistically referred to as a "fission battery," the HPM will deliver 70 megawatts of thermal energy, or approximately 25 megawatts of electricity. This amount of energy is enough to supply electricity to 20,000+ average American-style homes or the industrial/commercial equivalent.
"In response to market demand for the HPM, we have decided on a uranium nitride-fueled, lead bismuth-cooled, fast reactor for our 'launch' design," said John R. Grizz Deal, Hyperion Power's CEO. "For those who like to categorize nuclear technologies, we suppose this advanced reactor could be called a Gen IV++ design."
Should you wish to keep track on this development then click here to go directly to their web site.
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Reader Comments (5)
Hmm, that's a loser at about 36% efficiency. We'd be paying for a lot of waste heat.
Why can't they make it more efficient in this day and age?
Bob
Yes, its far from perfect, but we do like the concept.
how much will they cost to buy and to keep running for three years
Its a very interesting concept with development moving along nicely, but as for the final cost we just don't know, maybe one of our readers who is closer to it will chip in here.
This is Bob Nichols, long time reader of "Uranium Stocks" on the Web. I report on the two nuclear weapons labs in San Francisco. I had an interest in metals for decades.
Hyperion itself sticks with the $20 Million dollar figure from 2008. Other articles generally quote $20 to $30 million. Realistically, in 2011, your look at $40 to $50 million once you get it in the ground on site, then you go back to the factory in 10 years for refueling in 10 years.
Go here: http://tinyurl.com/4g36e9c and here: http://tinyurl.com/4jp3z2p .
Almost all nuke reactors making electricity run about 33% efficiency. A state of the art centralized electrical plant of the hybrid natural gas variety hits 60% efficiency.
Livermore Nuke Lab is running a big Solar demonstration project in Spain that has no cost for fuel, of course. The Nuke Lab boys are using tons of melted salt for a heat sink to get through the night. It works pretty good.
In any even, you pay your money and take your chances.
Bob