Easily Deployable Nuclear Reactors

[CaptainChewbacca]

For Civilian use!

First Transportable Nuclear Power Reactor

by Staff Writers
Los Alamos NM (SPX) Aug 14, 2008
Hyperion Power Generation's CEO, John R. 'Grizz" Deal has announced that the company has received its first Letter of Intent to purchase the Hyperion Power Module (HPM), a small, compact, transportable, nuclear power reactor.
The intention to purchase up to six units for various projects, at approximately $25 million each, was placed by TES Group, an investment company focusing on the energy sector in Central Eastern Europe.

If successful, they could potentially be in the market for up to 50 HPMs. Each power module provides 27 megawatts of electricity when connected to a steam turbine, enough to provide electricity for 20,000 average-size American-style homes or the industrial equivalent.

'The Hyperion Power Module was originally conceived to provide clean, affordable power for remote industrial applications such as oil sands operations," said Deal.

'Yet, the initial enthusiasm has been from those needing reliable electricity for communities. The big question for the 21st century is, 'how do we provide safe energy to those who need it, indeed those developing nations who demand it, without contributing to climate change?' Today's safer, proliferation-resistant nuclear power technology is the answer, but it's not feasible for every community to be tied to a large nuclear power plant.

"Some communities, those that need power for just the most basic humanitarian infrastructure, such as clean water production for household use and irrigation, are too remote for conventional nuclear power. This is where the Hyperion Power Module, a safe, secure, transportable power generator can help."

Conceived at Los Alamos National Laboratory, the Hyperion Power Module intellectual property portfolio has been licensed to Hyperion Power Generation for commercialization under the laboratory's technology transfer program.

Inherently safe and proliferation-resistant, the HPM utilizes the energy of low-enriched uranium fuel in a technology unlike any other currently in use or in development. Approximately 4,000 units of the same design will be produced, sealed and shipped from company manufacturing sites.

I think its a great evolution in nuclear technology, and its about time. Instead of building infrastructure from power plants to remote locations, just give them their own power plant.

[Ender]

Not the first. Army had a few the size of train cars, designed to move around and power bases. Still, very cool. Will have to look into it more.

[Patrick Degan]

I remember reading in Scientific American three or so years ago an article about developing an assembly-line nuclear reactor design that could be (comparatively) mass-produced and "plugged in" to a power station, as many units as you'd need or in small rural-located facilities. I don't think they were talking about Hyperion specifically, but it could easily be utilised in such a scheme. I would certainly be interested in a more in-depth article about this reactor.

[Ted C]

I actually like the idea of power generation close to the point of use. I think the blackout of 2003 showed just how precarious our current power distribution system is. It could seriously use some redundancy.

[Winston Blake]

Wow, I thought these things were years away.

first Letter of Intent to purchase the Hyperion Power Module (HPM),

Should have called the Zetacorp Power Module.

[fnord]

Hyperion are apparently planning to produce and flog around four thousand of the initial design - admittedly a great way to quickly get reactor-millennia of experience and wander down the learning curve. Smaller units might also be perceived to have less overall risk - technical, safety, financial, etc.

Still, rock on - even getting the NRC to set up a seperate "small reactor" division would be a benefit.

[Commander 598]

I thought Sony (I think) already had a small reactor that they were planning on setting up in some Alaskan town.

[fnord]

If you're thinking about Galena, Alaska, that would be the Toshiba 4S.

[Patrick Degan]

The description of the reactor is indeed as fascinating as I thought it would be:

[0004] It has long been recognized that the use of a fissile metal hydride as a nuclear fuel, such as uranium hydride, could potentially contribute to the stability of nuclear reactors because of the volatility of the hydrogen isotopes that contribute to the neutron energy moderation. However, it has not heretofore been understood that the basic characteristics of the hydride provide sufficient control of the nuclear reaction that external controls, such as neutron absorbing rods, are not required for stabilizing the reactor.

[0005] The present invention provides a compact reactor using such hydride characteristics to control and utilize nuclear fission energy in a new and different manner then previously attempted. A compact reactor can be economical and practical only if it is self-stabilizing and requires little or no active human control or monitoring. This present invention achieves control by utilizing the properties of a fissile metal hydride as a self-contained nuclear fuel and neutron energy moderator. If the physical size, fissile metal content and enrichment are appropriately selected, the metal will absorb ambient hydrogen, which moderates the neutron energies so that nuclear fission criticality is achieved. The temperature will then be increased by the fission reactions until the dissociation pressure of the hydrogen for that temperature is greater than the ambient pressure of the hydrogen, at which point the hydrogen dissociates from the hydride and the source becomes sub-critical. The dissociation pressure of the hydrogen is an exponential function of temperature so that small changes in temperature can initiate substantial hydrogen transport. Consequently, with the method and apparatus of the invention a dynamic equilibrium can be achieved where the temperature of the source is controlled by the ambient hydrogen pressure.

...

[0020] The present invention is of a nuclear power reactor and method that is a dramatic departure from conventional reactor designs. The present invention is based on and takes advantage of the physical properties of a fissile metal hydride, such as uranium hydride, which serves as a combination fuel and moderator. The invention is self-stabilizing and requires no moving mechanical components to control nuclear criticality. In contrast with customary designs, the control of the nuclear activity is achieved through the temperature driven mobility of the hydrogen isotope contained in the hydride. If the core temperature increases above a set point, the hydrogen isotope dissociates from the hydride and escapes out of the core, the moderation drops and the power production decreases. If the temperature drops, the hydrogen isotope is again associated by the fissile metal hydride and the process is reversed.

[0021] The invention provides a novel technique for power generation and can compliment existing commercial power nuclear reactors. Extensive deployment of small nuclear power modules according to the invention can substantially improve our national energy independence. Each such unit would preferably generate modest thermal power (tens of megawatts) per unit and preferably operate at a maximum fuel temperature less than 800° C. Such nuclear power modules would be inherently fail-safe from over-temperature excursions and may be mass-produced as turnkey modules due to inherent design simplicity and compactness.

[0022] Of the difficulties nuclear energy has faced as an alternative to fossil fuels, primary among these have been high construction costs and safety related uncertainties associated with complex active control and safety systems. The present invention provides an alternative enabling power generation from compact sources at modest unit costs. The small size of the device limits investment risk, and the inherent control and safety characteristics, as well as inherent simplicity, allow the power modules of the invention to be economically competitive for commercial power generation. Small size (approximately one or two meters in diameter) and the absence of mechanical intrusions permit a device according to the invention to be sealed at the factory, sited underground, and eventually returned to the factory after a useful life of five or more years. Single unit, sealed construction and dispersed, underground siting also affords a significant level of anti-tampering and anti-terrorist protection.

[0023] Overall System Design

[0024] The reactor size has been evaluated for the purposes of these proof-of-principle calculations by assuming that the core volume is equally divided between fuel and the energy extracting heat pipes or cooling pipes. A system designed to generate useful power will require efficient extraction of the heat out of the system and therefore will need to have a significant volume of pipes protruding into the fissile volume. The quantity and density of heat extraction pipes is determined by the low thermal conductivity of the hydrogen isotope—fissile metal hydride mixture. This dilution of the fissile volume will increase the critical mass and volume necessary to sustain power production.

[0025] The reactor size is also affected by the enrichment of the fuel, with higher enrichments yielding smaller reactors. The optimum size will depend on economic and engineering considerations. The fissile hydride, in the most common embodiment, will be diluted with a fertile hydride, often composed of the same element as the fissile component, but of a different isotope. For example, a nuclear fuel comprising the fissile hydride U-235 typically also contains the isotope U-238. A nuclear fuel consisting of 5% U-235 and 95% U-238 is commonly referred to as a “reactor grade fuel”.

[0026] The power modules of the invention are based on the properties of a fissile metal hydride, hereinafter referred to as uranium hydride (UH 3 ) or hydride; specifically, the ease with which a hydrogen isotope, hereinafter referred to as hydrogen, can move in and out of the hydride. The device is self-stabilizing and requires no moving mechanical components to control nuclear criticality. This passive control is achieved by exploiting the mobility of the hydrogen within the uranium hydride, which is a self-contained nuclear fuel and neutron energy moderator. While uranium hydride has been demonstrated as a reactor fuel (G. A. Linenberger, et al., “Enriched-Uranium Hydride Critical Assemblies”, Nucl. Sci . & Eng . 7, 44-57 (1960)), it has heretofore been unknown to exploit the volatility of the hydrogen as a control mechanism for the fission activity.

[0027] The characteristics of uranium hydride that make it an ideal combination of fuel and moderator for a stable nuclear power source include: high density storage of hydrogen in the hydride matrix; powder formation as the hydride is formed from the metal; high diffusivity of the hydrogen through the hydride crystals; multi-atmosphere dissociation pressures at power source operating temperatures to assist in heat and gas transport; exponential dependence of the dissociation pressure on temperature to drive the hydrogen volatility; and low viscosity of the gas.

[0028] The small size of the core and the inherent safety characteristics of the modules of the invention come from the novel use of uranium hydride as a combination fuel and moderator. The hydride stores vast quantities of hydrogen, so much that the density of hydrogen in a given volume is equivalent to the density of hydrogen in water. This hydrogen, however, is volatile and easily dissociates from the uranium and diffuses out of the hydride by any increase in temperature. The resulting decrease in moderator density effectively inserts negative reactivity into the core. A decrease in core temperature reverses the process, i.e., causes hydrogen absorption, increasing the moderator density and therefore inserts positive reactivity into the core. The customary control of nuclear power devices by the mechanical insertion (removal) of control rods is thus replaced by the self-regulating, temperature-driven desorption (absorption) of the moderating hydrogen. The complex arrays of detectors, analyzers and control systems responsible for the safety and stability of conventional nuclear reactors are supplanted by the fundamental science and properties of the active materials in the present invention.

[0029] Effective gas transport for reactivity control requires the unit volumes to be small. However, even at this small size, these modules may be economically competitive because their inherent safety and stability may permit simplified system engineering, autonomous operation, and the mass production of turnkey devices.

Like all great ideas, the basic principle is a rather simple one: a fuel core and moderator in one package, composed of a compound with high hydrogen density, from which the hydrogen evaporates if the reaction temperature goes too high. The resulting hydrogen vapour fills the chamber and acts as a moderator poison, shutting down the reaction. When the core cools back down, the hydrogen condenses back into the core mass and the reaction restarts. No moving parts are required to control the reactor, because the natural thermochemical properties of the uranium hydride accomplish that function. A naturally self-regulating reactor. And one which can be mass-produced, which introduces economy-of-scale into nuclear power schemes.

[Singular Intellect]

That sounds fucking awesome, PD.