*Consult your HOA before installation

Quote :

"Invented at the famed Los Alamos National Laboratory, Hyperion small modular power reactors make all the benefits of safe, clean nuclear power available for remote locations. For both industrial and community applications, Hyperion offers reliable energy with no greenhouse gas emissions. Hyperion power is also cheaper than fossil fuels and, when you consider the cost of land and materials, watt to watt, Hyperion’s innovative energy technology is even more affordable than many developing “alternative” energy technologies. Small enough to be transported on a ship, truck or train, Hyperion power modules are about the size of a "hot tub" — approximately 1.5 meters wide. Out of sight and safe from nefarious threats, Hyperion power modules are buried far underground and guarded by a security detail. Like a power battery, Hyperion modules have no moving parts to wear down, and are delivered factory sealed. They are never opened on site. 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. Perfect for moderately-sized projects, Hyperion produces only 25 MWe — enough to provide electricity for about 20,000 average American sized homes or its industrial equivalent. Ganged or teamed together, the modules can produce even more consistent energy for larger projects. "

[Edited on November 11, 2008 at 1:22 PM. Reason : too good to be true?]

11/11/2008 1:20:53 PM

damn HOAs

it's my backyard, i do what i want!

11/11/2008 1:31:52 PM

that is awesome. Bet it costs a fortune though

11/11/2008 1:39:14 PM

Just think how much weed you could grow. No more power company knocking on the door for those heat lamps baby

11/11/2008 1:40:51 PM

I'd like to see one of those hooked to one house on the grid and see the electric meter spinning.

[Edited on November 11, 2008 at 1:42 PM. Reason : 'd]

11/11/2008 1:42:31 PM

I want one, how much?

11/11/2008 1:44:38 PM

this is awesome!!

11/11/2008 1:50:26 PM

Quote :

"Just think how much weed you could grow. No more power company knocking on the door for those heat lamps baby"

been in WA a litttttttle too long tyler.

11/11/2008 2:05:44 PM

i'll take two ... bummer they'll never let us handle uranium...

(even though i have )

[Edited on November 11, 2008 at 2:18 PM. Reason : .]

11/11/2008 2:18:24 PM

I think that they said anywhere between 25-30 million....but that might be completely wrong

11/11/2008 2:39:41 PM

Just tell the HOA its a larger constant backup power generator. Plug it in and wait for the meter man to shit a brick and the power company to write you a big ol' check.

11/11/2008 2:39:55 PM

Here's an article about it: http://cleantechnica.com/2008/09/25/hyperion-power-generation-delivering-first-of-4000-reactor-modules-in-june-2013/

Quote :

" the expected unit price is $25-30 million"

So I doubt many of us will have one in the back yard any time soon.

11/11/2008 3:52:20 PM

Ok now I just need a remote island, some wimmens, and some seeds.

11/11/2008 4:02:26 PM

^^ per article

$30,000,000.00 EA / 15,000 homes served / [assume] 5 years of service = $ 400 per household per year

i bet refueling/ core exchange on one of these will be cheaper than the upfront price, so cost per watt will go down after the first 5 years

[Edited on November 11, 2008 at 5:17 PM. Reason : 5 yrs operation vberfore refueling per article]

11/11/2008 5:12:24 PM

who would be buying someting like this?
Is this mainly for foreign countries?

11/11/2008 5:31:36 PM

remote locations would benefit the most obviously.

oh and turns out it doesnt actually generate electricity by itself

Quote :

" Hyperion’s marketing materials describe the Hyperion Power Module as a “battery”, but I think the company is reaching a bit with that analogy. Unlike a battery, an HPM is not a source of electricity that can simply be plugged into a circuit, it is a source of heat. Just like the heat released by burning fossil fuels, the heat produced by an HPM must be captured, focused and converted into motion and then into electricity typically through the use of the same kinds of heat engines available for converting fossil fuels into electricity. Still, the concept is intriguing and the developments worth watching. Here is a comparison to help put the system’s potential into perspective. A single truck can deliver the HPM heat source to a site. The device is supposed to be able to produce 70 MW of thermal energy for 5 years. That means that the truck will be delivering about 10.5 trillion BTU’s to the site. Buying enough natural gas at today’s New York City Gate price of $8.55 per million BTU (according to my favorite energy commodity price web site for August 14, 2008) would cost $90 million. That is more than 3 times as much as the announced selling price for an HPM, but the advantage does not stop there - the HPM is targeted for places where there are no gas pipelines to deliver gas, so natural gas is not available at any price. Instead, it would be better to compare the HPM to diesel fuel, which currently costs about 2 times as much per unit of useful heat as natural gas and still requires some form of delivery for remote locations. In some places, fuel transportation costs are two or three times as much as the cost of the fuel from the central supply points. In certain very difficult terrains, or in places where there are people who like to shoot at tankers, delivery costs can be 100 times as much as the basic cost of the fuel. "

11/11/2008 5:39:24 PM

very interesting.

11/11/2008 5:53:43 PM

^^ if it's just a heat source that implies it likely needs a local water source to generate steam from, i'm guessing?

There aren't very many other efficient ways to convert heat to electricity.

11/11/2008 6:37:28 PM

Quote :

"it is impossible for the module to go supercritical,"

NATURE ALWAYS FINDS A WAY

11/11/2008 7:12:44 PM

Quote :

"the expected unit price is $25-30 million"

just like when dvd players first came out, you need to wait it out a little bit until the price comes down.

11/11/2008 9:51:48 PM

it would be cool.

11/15/2008 4:32:59 AM

Quote :

"^^ if it's just a heat source that implies it likely needs a local water source to generate steam from, i'm guessing? There aren't very many other efficient ways to convert heat to electricity."

Or perhaps pair this with a sterling engine generator system, and have something completely self-contained?

11/15/2008 10:56:09 AM

where exactly do you expect to find a 33,000 horsepower sterling engine?

11/16/2008 12:31:17 AM

the future is awesome!

can't wait for those hoverboards

11/16/2008 6:45:56 AM

These are the real deal. They sound similar or identical to Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators. This type of generator (RTG) has been around for 40+ years and are used onboard spacecraft that have to be powered for a LONG time (Like Voyager, IIRC). Take a glance at the stories I've linked, they're exciting and extremely scary. Circumstances often seem to repeat themselves with highly uneducated people. There's enough reading material to get lost in it for weeks. The amount of accidents that have occurred and the way that they've occurred is nothing short of incredible.

Here's a glowing Plutonium pellet from one:



The funny thing is that these Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators have been used in isolated Russian Lighthouses that are too far to run power lines to. Many, MANY were forgotten after the collapse and are now easily accessed by random people out in the wilderness. The housings rust away and people find them. Now they are easily accessible and could be used by terrorists to make a dirty bomb. They are extremely dangerous to handle though and require special equipment to safely transport. They have also resulted in multiple fatalities (Terrible ones I might add) and extremely hazardous situations.

"Many Beta-M RTGs produced by the Soviet Union to power lighthouses and beacons have become orphaned sources of radiation. Several of these units have been illegally dismantled for scrap metal resulting in the complete exposure the Sr-90 source, fallen into the ocean, or have defective shielding due to poor design or physical damage. The US Department of Defense cooperative threat reduction program has expressed concern that material from the Beta-M RTGs can be used by terrorists to construct a dirty bomb. [4]"


DILAPIDATED SOVIET RTG:



BELLONA REPORT ON SOVIET RTG'S:

http://www.bellona.no/bellona.org/english_import_area/international/russia/navy/northern_fleet/incidents/37598



Here's a TERRIBLE story about a crew of workers that stumbled upon an RTG core sitting there:

"December 2000 – Three woodcutters in the nation of Georgia spent the night beside several "warm" canisters they found deep in the woods and were subsequently hospitalized with severe radiation burns. The canisters were found to contain concentrated 90Sr. The disposal team consisted of 25 men who were restricted to 40 seconds' worth of exposure each while transferring the canisters to lead-lined drums. The canisters are believed to have been components of radioisotope thermoelectric generators intended for use as generators for remote lighthouses and navigational beacons, part of a Soviet plan dating back to 1983."


Also check out this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_accidents


Here's the list of civilian nuclear accidents:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_civilian_nuclear_accidents


List of civilian radiation accidents (These are crazy, stories people walking into sterilizers and receiving lethal doses in seconds):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_civilian_radiation_accidents

http://www.johnstonsarchive.net/nuclear/radevents/index.html


"An operator at a commercial irradiation facility bypassed the safety systems on the JS6500 sterilizer to clear a jam in the product conveyor area. The one to two minute exposure resulted in a whole body dose estimated at 10 Gy or more. He died 36 days later despite extensive medical care."



The stories are INCREDIBLE. One of the worst was the Goiania Incident (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goi%C3%A2nia_accident). People in south america found a thimble in a radiation therapy machine for cancer patients. This hospital was shut down and they left the machine there. Lots of homeless people started squatting in the hospital and eventually somebody got the thimble full of a radioactive cobalt isotope. It has an inner and outer housing that rotate. Each has a window. When the windows align, the radiation is allowed out in a focused beam.

The homeless people got the thimble and sold it for scrap. The scrap yard owner had his employee break open the thimble so that he could use the glowing rock inside to make a ring for his wife (Can you imagine being this uneducated that you find glowing rocks and play with them?!). He brought it home and his brother began to scrape off glowing dust from the rock using a knife. He actually painted a cross on his chest with this glowing dust (I'm not making this shit up ).

It also got all over the floor and their child ate the dust and spread it all over herself because she thought it made her look pretty. They all died slow, terrible deaths from MASSIVE radiation exposure. Then the home became abandoned and the whole cycle started over again. Squatters came in and found the shit, contaminating themselves again. I believe a couple hundred people ended up being exposed to this shit.

11/16/2008 7:48:14 AM

nvm, read thread

11/16/2008 10:57:31 AM

^^It's not a RTG. It's designed to run a turbine or Sterling engine. The advantage of this design is that there are no moving parts inside the reactor core. I don't see them as being used in a backyard - rather as a small substations. Ten or twenty of them could be placed at a single site, and produce a decent amount of power for the surrounding area.

11/16/2008 11:56:11 AM

^ & ^^ I didn't bother to read about this retarded device you idiots, the picture of it (And overall subject of this thread) just reminded me of an RTG and that got me on the subject of the fun incidents that I linked for you all to read about.

You stupid fucks were trying so hard to act smart that you don't even bother to understand the point of my post.

11/16/2008 12:06:09 PM

^

Quote :

"They sound similar or identical to Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators. This type of generator (RTG) has been around for 40+ years and are used onboard spacecraft that have to be powered for a LONG time"

Sure sounds like you thought they were "similar or identical" to a RTG.

And what exactly is the point of your post? That industrial products in the hands of the wrong people are dangerous? Or that you're technophobic luddite? Or just that you are an insufferable douchebag? I can't tell which. Please clue me in.

11/16/2008 4:06:12 PM

Could be any combination of the three.

11/16/2008 6:14:48 PM

Quote :

"One of the worst was the Goiania Incident"

whoa

11/16/2008 9:20:28 PM

This would likely only be a good solution for off the grid sites, however, the output of this unit is a bit high considering it would require a medium sized infrastructure to take use of the full capacity.

11/16/2008 10:30:28 PM

i wonder if it could be adapted for use on a ship (ie container ships/tanks)

i suppose it would depend on costs

11/17/2008 2:42:12 PM

Ironman already invented a better version of this.

11/17/2008 3:50:25 PM

Damn flood control told me it wouldn't post.

[Edited on November 17, 2008 at 3:52 PM. Reason : merf]

11/17/2008 3:51:39 PM