Why Not a Baby Nuclear Reactor?
February / March 2009
Volume 7 Number 1
There's a nuclear power renaissance going on, and what better place to find innovation in nuclear science than in the very DOE labs that discovered the science of putting to work energy out of a naturally occurring controlled nuclear reaction?
Our company, Hyperion Power Generation, Inc. of Santa Fe, N.M., is commercializing a new type of nuclear power reactor, invented at Los Alamos National Laboratory by Otis (Pete) Peterson. Metaphorically compared to a "battery," the Hyperion Power Module (HPM) is small—€”just 1.5 meters wide and 2 meters tall—€”permanently sealed and transportable by truck, rail or ship. It is also uniquely designed to be mass-produced. Building the same reactor design in multiple dramatically cuts costs and time and makes the emission-free benefits of nuclear power available to locations that could never afford or never had access to baseload power before. Large power plant facilities rely on economies of scale to deliver affordable energy to the population. The HPM derives its economy for the consumer from mass production.
Hyperion estimates that we'll be able to generate electricity anywhere in the world for less than 10 cents per kilowatt hour, just a fraction of a cent more than the U.S. National average, and 50 to 75 percent cheaper than what most remote communities and mining operations pay today. Hyperion is seeking design certification from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. While that process will take several years, we expect to have our first customer install within five years.
Dr. Peterson's reactor design was never an official lab project, but he spent nearly a decade working on the design, testing his assumptions and talking to industry and government about his design for a small, modular reactor for generating steam and electricity. As you might know, if you invent something while working at a national lab (and most anywhere else, for that matter), that intellectual property belongs to the company for which you work.
Venture capitalist Dirk McDermott, managing director at Altira Group in Denver, became aware of Peterson's design in 2005 and negotiated with LANL for exclusive rights to the technology. Hyperion was formed in 2007 to take that design to market.
But why focus on the development of a new kind of nuclear reactor when so much work still needs to be done to drive down the cost and environmental impacts of conventionally identified "renewable" power —€“ wind and solar? Our response is "precisely!" A lot of work still needs to be done on wind and solar to abate those concerns, and we may still never be able to rely on wind and solar for baseload—€”the energy that's available 24 / 7, rain or shine, wind or no wind.
Nuclear is already a baseload provider of energy. Wind and solar provide less than 2 percent of the nation's energy; nuclear energy provides 20 percent of our power from 104 facilities. While all technologies should be included in the global energy mix, an immediate fix for baseload power is necessary. And no emission-free technology is closer to shouldering the burden of the baseload need than nuclear.
As a nation we have learned a lot over the past decades about nuclear energy and although it's hailed as being "new," the HPM employs proven science and engineering. To start with, many of the properties of our uranium hydride fuel have been known for decades. In fact, uranium hydride has been used for many years in "training reactors" for teaching new operators.
The HPM is different in that it eliminates virtually all internal mechanical moving parts and complexities. Those parts simply are not needed due to the nature of the uranium hydride, which serves as both fuel and moderator, and keeps the core temperature and therefore power, at a set point. This lack of moving parts, along with its self-moderating nature make the HPM inherently safe. The core can never melt down nor get out of control.
What the core safely does is provide 70 megawatts of thermal energy. The reason Hyperion quotes energy output in thermal units is because the reactor doesn't include an integrated team/electric cycle, making it more flexible than other nuclear power reactors. This means existing small power plants can be retrofitted to use a Hyperion Power Module. Depending upon the type of steam turbine used, the HPM can deliver around 27 megawatts of electricity. This amount of electricity can power 20,000 average American-style homes or the industrial equivalent, and of course, many more homes in countries with developing economies.
A nuclear reactor is similar to a coal or natural gas-fired electric plant in that it provides heat to create steam, to turn a turbine, to generate electricity. The difference is that the uranium used in a nuclear power plant contains millions of times more energy than coal and natural gas. This means it is not only a much more efficient way to generate electricity, but is also safer.
Despite a history in the U.S. of misconceptions and misinformation concerning nuclear power, the facts on safety and security of nuclear power speak for themselves. Nuclear power is the safest, cleanest, most secure way to generate electricity yet invented The other big advantage to nuclear power generation over less green methods of producing electricity is that nuclear is not a carbon-based fuel, meaning it doesn't spew greenhouse gases, particulate matter and dangerous chemicals into our atmosphere, including radiation from uranium naturally found in coal. (If coal plants were regulated in the same way nuclear plants are regarding uranium, virtually every coal plant operating today would be shut down for excessive radiation emissions.)
A reactor is used to convert nuclear energy into heat. The figure on the previous page is a cross-section of the HPM. Inside the HPM's steel container is uranium hydride (UH3) fuel and a series of heat pipes. Again, the hydrogen in the fuel not only acts as a moderator to sustain the fission reaction, it also controls the reactivity so that it can't get out of hand. Traditional nuclear plants generally use a combination of water for cooling and element like boron to inhibit the reaction (usually in rods, called control rods). These rods are moved in and out of the core to ensure the reaction is maintained at a certain level.
The HPM uses a series of heat pipes to put the heat created by fission to work. Heat pipes were invented at Los Alamos decades ago, and are used in a wide range of applications; from the Alaskan oil pipeline to space vehicles. The heat pipes transport the thermal energy from the core through a series of heat exchangers and other heat pipes to a normal boiler used to generate steam. This means there is no water inside the HPM and no chance of spoiling the electric/steam generation plant.
As you might imagine, being the world's first independent small nuclear power reactor company (and being a startup to boot), is complex, full of risk and has loads of regulations. But Hyperion also has the unique opportunity to not only change the way people view nuclear power, but provide that power in places that don't have access to stable baseload electricity.
Nearly two-thirds of the planet's population don't have access to baseload electricity and a third don't have electricity at all. But, electricity is the key to the basic standard of modern life. It's essential to everything—€”from treating sewage to providing potable water; from powering industry to machines that detect cancer.
Other applications include providing independent power for military and industrial facilities, and creating thermal and electrical energy for mining, heavy oil extraction (sands and shale) and metals forging.
John Deal is president and chief executive of Hyperion Power Generation.
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