Mini nuclear plants to power 20,000 homes

Mini nuclear plants to power 20,000 homes

www.guardian.co.uk

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.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow. This kind of reminds me of the mini power plants described in some alien lore, such as Serpo. I'm not sure how to feel about this. Sounds pretty cool, though. There's not any weapons grade uranium to worry about. They say they will seal these in concrete and bury them. I think most communities would be adverse to having these in their "back yards".

www.guardian.co.uk
(visit the link for the full news article)

reply to post by Rotoplooker


No moving parts? How does it convert radiation to electricity? I doubt the use of thermopiles would be able to provide power for 20,000 homes.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Rotoplooker

 

No moving parts? How does it convert radiation to electricity? I doubt the use of thermopiles would be able to provide power for 20,000 homes.

I think what it means is 20,000 homes will each get a mini reactor of it own. One house=one mini reactor. That is the way I read it any way. But I still find it hard to believe it will happen

[edit on 11/8/2008 by fixer1967]

The article also says: 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.
Good News

Actually, it doesn't sound so far fetched. The reactors on the nuclear carriers and submarines are small and very powerful. Making less complicated versions can't be that far off now.

This link to company doing the work on mini nuclear plants

www.hyperionpowergeneration.com...

reply to post by badgerprints


Current large scale reactors as well as those on carriers and subs generate power by producing steam and spinning turbines. Not exactly what I would call no moving parts.

Originally posted by Bejing
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.
Good News

intriguing. the firm orders are largely from the type of industries that would be most affected by this new nuclear technology.

reply to post by Rotoplooker


Great find It's about time that we had a nuclear renaissance. The great thing about this is that it is so portable and easy to set up. I really hope they can keep their promise of starting production within five years. Hopefully environmentalist whackjobs will stay away so as to not impede on progress.

Selling these outside America will be interesting

for starters non weapons grade does not equal not useful for dirty bombs

secondly

I'm a firin ma Lazer!!!!!!!

Unlimited hard to target energy sources have alot of weapons uses

Good or Bad?

These things no matter what spell the end of any super powers the world currently has.

Energy needs go bye bye

Beam and Em weapons in the hands of the oppressed become omnipresent

Fast stealthy jets of any kind... are meaningless against beam weapons


New World Order indeed...

reply to post by mopusvindictus


According to the hyperion website, the power supply uses uranium hydride. It is a radioactive isotope (which is why it produces heat) so it would work in a "dirty" (not fission) bomb. It is otherwise a nasty material to deal with.

Uranium hydride is spontaneously flammable in air, and contact of the hydride with strong oxidizers may cause fires and explosions. Contact of uranium hydride with water forms flammable and explosive hydrogen gas, and contact of the hydride with halogenated hydrocarbons can cause violent reactions. In finely divided form, uranium dioxide ignites spontaneously in air.

Uranium hydride should not be allowed to contact air, water, strong oxidizers, or halogenated hydrocarbons. Because empty containers that formerly contained uranium or a uranium compound may still hold product residues, they should be handled appropriately.

www.osha.gov...

reply to post by prototism
This is exactly what I was thinking!

I was also wondering about the social ramifications of this. It seems if this idea spreads and is reliable and safe it could change the world! Star and Flag!
Edit to add does anyone know if the gov. is utilizing this tech. already? I suspect they are!

[edit on 9-11-2008 by razorvocals]

Originally posted by razorvocals
reply to post by prototism

 

Edit to add does anyone know if the gov. is utilizing this tech. already? I suspect they are!

[edit on 9-11-2008 by razorvocals]

if the private sector can get it this size, it only means the public sector already has it smaller, and we are only getting a tip of the iceberg.

but just how small they have it, is impossible to accurately speculate on. if i had to guess however, i would not be surprised if their version was small enough to fit in some sort of "craft", specifically aircraft.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Rotoplooker

 

No moving parts? How does it convert radiation to electricity? I doubt the use of thermopiles would be able to provide power for 20,000 homes.

Looks like they've got two above-ground modules. One for water for the steam and one for the generator. I imagine that it's a closed-loop water/steam system.

Let's see, Vegas population is 1,000,000+. So that's 50 or so units. Each installed in existing substations...it...could...work!

I read this and think its a great idea, fantastic actually!

Personally I would much rather see wind or solar power use spread then mini-nuclear reactors buried everywhere.

reply to post by wookiee


It could and don't get me wrong, I'm not against nuc's. But if we go that way I think large scale, centralized systems are a better idea. With this system we end up with a whole lot of "stuff" spread out all over the place. A lot more depleted material to deal with.

reply to post by Phage

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by wookiee

 

It could and don't get me wrong, I'm not against nuc's. But if we go that way I think large scale, centralized systems are a better idea. With this system we end up with a whole lot of "stuff" spread out all over the place. A lot more depleted material to deal with.

But that's the beauty of this design. It can be used in remote areas that cannot utilize normal technology b/c of infrastructure costs and smaller or poorer populations.

This will do to nuke plants what the PC did to mainframes.

As for safety and waste, from the website:

Even if one were compromised, the material inside would not be appropriate for proliferation purposes. Further, due to the unique, yet proven science upon which this new technology is based, it is impossible for the module to go supercritical, “melt down” or create any type of emergency situation. If opened, the very small amount of fuel that is enclosed would immediately cool. The waste produced after five years of operation is approximately the size of a softball and is a good candidate for fuel recycling.

reply to post by jsobecky


Dangit, you beat me to it. Nevertheless, I recently came upon a website that claimed that all the spent fuel in the world would only amount to the size a two story building with the length and width of a basketball court.

Another point about nuclear waste is that oil companies produce far more waste. In fact they produce so much waste that they just dump it into the environment around them. And lets not forget where we dump "used" hydrocarbon fuel. Dealing with solid waste material is far far more manageable to contain and keep track off.

Also there are far far more deaths related to coal and oil than nuclear power.

[edit on 9-11-2008 by Cool Hand Luke]