Mini nuclear plants to power 20,000 homes

[archerships]

Mini nuclear plants to power 20,000 homes

Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos, the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb.

The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain no weapons-grade material, have no moving parts and will be nearly impossible to steal because they will be encased in concrete and buried underground.

The US government has licensed the technology to Hyperion, a New Mexico-based company which said last week that it has taken its first firm orders and plans to start mass production within five years. ‘Our goal is to generate electricity for 10 cents a watt anywhere in the world,’ said John Deal, chief executive of Hyperion. ‘They will cost approximately $25m [£13m] each. For a community with 10,000 households, that is a very affordable $250 per home.’

Deal claims to have more than 100 firm orders, largely from the oil and electricity industries, but says the company is also targeting developing countries and isolated communities. ‘It’s leapfrog technology,’ he said.

Original: craschworks - comments

Comments

[blueadept.livejournal.com]

FTA:

This article was amended on Monday November 11 2008. $25m divided by 10,000 is $2,500 not $250. This has been changed.

FYI. :)

[blueadept.livejournal.com]

Of course, it's still a good deal at $2,500. Assuming you spend $100/month in electricity costs, that's about a 2-year ROI. The thing lasts for 7 years before refueling.

Huh.

[jasonecaesar.livejournal.com]

A good deal, yes, though I spend $100/year on electricity.

[mary919.livejournal.com]

Extraordinarily cool.

Interesting!

[jasonecaesar.livejournal.com]

Though I don't think that I trust nuclear fission quite yet, and certainly not on the planet. Perhaps in space where we could jettison it into a star...

[jimp220.livejournal.com]

since I work for an electric utility the nuts and bolts intrigue me. When one says, 'transmission and distribution won't be needed' then I have to ask a few questions. At what voltage does the power come off the turbine? To avoid step up/down transformers it would have to be 120/240V AC and at that voltage 300' is about the max distance it can travel without the voltage degrading. Some sort of distribution network would be required just to get the power from the generator to the house panel and that would require at least wire and junction boxes.

[partywhipple.livejournal.com]

Nice, even witht he increase in cost. They could charge $50 a month for 7 years (much lower than what I pay now) and come out with a hefty profit.

[denshi.livejournal.com]

I wonder about the design. I remember a Japanese design a few years ago that was basically a uranium rod with a neutron reflective sleeve covering a small section of the rod -- just move the sleeve down the rod when the power output starts to decrease. It's not the same design here (no moving parts), but I'm sure there are lots of simple hacks one could devise.

[crasch.livejournal.com]

They may be a hoax, but if so, it's sophisticated enough that they've been able to raise VC money. Deal has started other LANL spinoffs. This site reviews the patent on which the reactor is based.