Considered by many to be the most important issue facing America after the economy and the War on Terror, the energy “crisis” is in full motion. And, what happens when a capitalist society determines that a problem needs a solution? Someone invents it. Then someone else commercializes it of course.
This is precisely what Hyperion Power Generation, Inc. did. Recently, Hyperion Power Generation, Inc. acquired the exclusive rights to commercialize Dr. Otis “Pete” Peterson’s Hyperion Power Module (HPM). Dubbed “nuclear in a box,” the Hyperion Power Module is a hot tub sized nuclear reactor that Dr. Peterson invented at Los Alamos Laboratory three years ago.
Although only a meter and a half wide and two meters tall, an HPM is capable of producing 70 megawatts of thermal energy, which equates to about 25 megawatts of electrical power. As Deborah Blackwell described, “That is enough [energy] for about 20,000 America style homes, but outside of the U.S. we’re looking at about . . . 30 or 50 or 70 thousand homes in a country outside of the U.S.”
Hyperion Power Generation’s Vice President of Licensing and Public Policy, Ms. Blackwell describes the primary purpose of the HPM. “The Hyperion Power Module . . . can bring clean power and substantial power to remote communities of the world that would never otherwise have the opportunity to enjoy all the benefits of nuclear power.” Once remote areas of the world can now have clean water and agriculture. An HPM will help these regions stabilize their economies and societies by giving them basic human necessities.
In addition to rural communities, Hyperion Power Modules are also applicable for industrial and military use. “It makes a great backup for homeland security. It would be a wonderful tool for our military installations so we are not dependent on a common grid. Our security and global security depend a lot on these military installations . . . but if they’re hooked up to the common grid and they go down we are very much handicapped,” stated Ms. Blackwell.
Also a Hyperion Power Module is essentially maintenance-free. In most applications an HPM would be buried. Hyperion Power Generation, Inc. would excavate a site and then bury an HPM in concrete, returning years later to replace the HPM when its fuel is completely spent. “We believe that we can get seven to ten years of output from [a single HPM] . . . There’s no refueling or need to dig up the module. And, at the end of ten years we would bring it back to the factory to refurbish all the parts of the reactor and refuel,” stated Ms. Blackwell at the recent Heritage Foundation event Exploring New Nuclear Technologies. There is no access to the radioactive material inside the reactor. It is safe and concealed.
For all nuclear skeptics, the Hyperion Power Module meets all non-proliferation standards. “There are no moving parts to the core of the Hyperion reactor . . . if the core becomes more than 550 degrees centigrade the hydrogen [disassociates] and the core cools. When it cools it brings the hydrogen back in. So, this thing is almost like a living, breathing set of lungs in that if regulates itself. There are no control rods, there is no water, there is nothing else to moderate the temperature . . . it’s inherently safe.” An HPM has no parts in the core that can malfunction as they did in the Soviet Union’s nuclear power plant at Chernobyl in the 1980s. And, because water is not used as a coolant, an HPM can not overheat, a danger perceived in the incident at the power plant outside of Harrisburg, Pa. in Three Mile Island.
Hyperion Power Modules are not going to replace gas, coal, or oil throughout the globe. Hyperion Power Generation, Inc. is not going to become an energy-producing superpower. However, it is an alternative energy source that in the right application can play an important role in energy production in the future.
Lance Nation is an intern at the American Journalism Center, a training program run by Accuracy in Media and Accuracy in Academia.
