Hyperion Power Generation Delivering First of 4000 Reactor Modules in June 2013
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I have written about Hyperion Power Generation (HPG) several times before, and some people may think I am getting repetitive. The story, however, continues to fascinate me because the leaders of the company are thinking more like biotech or traditional computer/communications tech startup companies than traditional nuclear suppliers.
Several weeks ago, I had the opportunity to talk with John (Grizz) Deal for The Atomic Show Podcast. We had a very interesting chat, but I did not get into the business aspects of the development as much as a more recent interview conducted by Techrockies after watching a Hyperion presentation at the Venture Capital in the Rockies Fall Conference.
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Unlike the audio interview I conducted, Techrockies’s interview is available in text and can be read in just a couple of minutes. If you are interested in revolutionary, market disruptive technology that just might help to save the world, I recommend you go and read that interview.
Instead of aiming to build gigantic machines that take 5 years to license and 5 years to construct, HPG is aiming for devices that can be transported on the back of a flat-bed truck and installed at customer locations six to twelve months after the customer places an order.
Instead of talking about orders volumes in the single digits as being massive, like Westinghouse’s four reactor sale to China, Hyperion thinks in terms of building thousands of units in several factories around the world. They also talk about overall market potential in the tens to hundreds of thousands of units.
There are two big questions that come up in regard to any clean power source project. How much will it cost, and how long will it take to be on the market? For the Hyperion Power Module, the expected unit price is $25-30 million “depending on options” and the company expects to be able to get the first one out the door after spending less than $100 million on development.
According to the interview, the inspiring date sign on the company CEO’s desk is 6/13. The explanation is that is the date that they will be shipping their first unit. Deal claims that the timeline to that date includes more than twice as much calendar time as they think they need in order to account for the inevitable contingencies.
I will try to keep you posted on occasion about their progress. I hope you are as fascinated as I am about considering how small reactors producing 70 MW of heat in a space small enough to fit under a small office building might change the world as we know it.
Photo Explanation
I have had several meetings with a Texas serial entrepreneur. He was (perhaps still is) extremely interested in backyard sized nuclear power plants. During one of our meetings he asked me about a plant small enough to fit under his backyard “conference center”. (Some backyards are bigger than others.)
Once Hyperion starts shipping, that photo just might be what a Hyperion Power Module looks like to its neighbors, since the current plan is to install the reactor units under ground. That little building could house all of the necessary support equipment for a plant that can deliver abundant, clean electricity to a town of 10-20,000 residents.
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