Hyperion - America's Nuclear Battery by Edit International

Hope has emerged for the world out of government laboratories and top secret experiments at Los Alamos, the Laboratories in America that produced the first atomic bomb. It is a company now taking orders for a mini nuclear power plants small enough to fit inside your bathroom. The company’s tiny and inexpensive power module produces enough power to light up a town of 20,000 homes. Electricity will be available in more places around the world and cost no more and maybe less than is paid by homes using more conventional power sources, such as coal, natural gas and typical sized nuclear power plants. The knowledge has been licensed by Los Alamos, to Hyperion, a New Mexico based company which is the brainchild of Dr. Pete Peterson, who discovered the process while at Los Alamos. The company says it is receiving firm orders and plans to produce mini nuclear plants within five years. Dr. Peterson, who had been with the Laboratory since the late 70’s, is noted for his discovery in the 1970s of the cw (“continuous wave”) dye laser and his research in x-ray crystallography. He is a polymathic physicist whose research in nuclear reactors led to the founding of Hyperion where he is now chief scientist. About 4,000 units, fabricated in three different factories around America, are expected to be deployed in countries around the world by the year 2025. Talks are underway in dozens of countries.

Today’s full size nuclear power stations cost between 10 and 12 billion dollars to build. At present 104 nuclear plants, each serving one million homes, provides 20 percent of America’s electric power. Each plant produces 1,000 megawatts. The tiny Hyperion unit costs just $25 million dollars, produces 27 megawatts of power and will supply small towns, military bases and mining projects with all the electricity they can use. This is a solution to one of the biggest problems facing the energy industry today. How to find a cost effective method of transmitting electricity to remote locations from large, centralized power powers? The laying and upkeep of transmission lines spanning miles of rural areas raises energy costs and makes some ventures impractical. Soon, more towns will be able to be released from old power grids and new towns will be able to appear. Companies that propose drilling or excavating in northern expanses of Canada or Alaska, are required to burn vast amounts of fossil fuels simply to reach more fossil fuels, which has made doing so very expensive. Hyperion’s new, little power module gives a cost effective alternative. Hyperion also provides a safe and reliable energy source to semi permanent installations such as military bases for troops in places such as Iraq; which is one reason the Pentagon has shown a great amount of interest in Hyperion’s development. Headquartered in Denver, Hyperion says its unit has no moving parts, is safe from kidnapping by terrorists’ ‘because it would be like grabbing and carrying off a piece of the sun’ and is buried 250 feet under the ground. The nuclear power module is being described as a very big battery that will last between 7 and 10 years. The unit will be sold first in areas not supplied by regular nuclear power plants. It’s designed for nations which do not have the resources or enough land to build the big plants. Working units will be below the surface of the earth. The price tag does not include cost of the steam turbine to be hooked up to it to convert the heat into electricity. Nor does it include cost of wires or transmission lines and equipment for the power grid.

The technology isn’t new; scientists have been studying and using uranium hydride, the nuclear reaction that makes the module possible, in the laboratory and at the university level for 50 years. But it isn’t till now that a company Uranium hydride has been able to utilize that technology commercially.

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Hyperion’s Power Module is very different from the nuclear reactions typically associated with nuclear power stations. They cannot go critical, melt down or explode like a nuclear bomb or conventional reactor. Because there is no need of water or cooling rods to cool down the intense heat of the reactor, the gradual decay of the uranium hydride is self regulating; there is no danger of polluting local water sources. The module does not produce any greenhouse gases and produces only a small amount of the waste compared to other types of reactors, making it “cleaner”. The module is designed to be seated in the ground. The reactor vessel is sealed, manufactured at one of Hyperion’s planned factories and the fuel is put in but not activated. Then the module is transported by truck, ship or rail to the location where it will be placed. Arriving at its destination the capsule will be placed inside a very dense concrete bunker built into the ground. Then in 7 to 10 years , after it’s been turned off and allowed to cool for about six months, Hyperion engineers will come and pull it out of the ground and take it back to the factory to be unsealed and the nuclear waste will be removed under contained and secure conditions. The waste the module produces is about the size of a basket ball. It’s highly radioactive and yes, it glows in the dark, but can be recycled and used again and again. Even though it can’t be used to make an atomic bomb, there is the risk that the nuclear waste can be used as a dirty bomb if it ever fell into the wrong hands. That’s why all activities of Hyperion are closely monitored by America’s (NRC) Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the (NNSA) National Nuclear Security Administration. The company plans to have 4,000 of the $25 million units produced and available by 2013. In comparison, each Hyperion unit is one half of one percent of the cost of a typical full size nuclear power plant which takes about 12 years to build. 3

Early buyers in Europe have shown great interest as have island nations and many countries in South America which haven’t already a well established power infrastructure or numerous remote power locations. TES of the Czech Republic has already placed orders. Debora Blackwell, Hyperion spokesperson, said, “We have orders for about 40 units now – that comes to about 10 billion dollars in signed orders and some earnest money. We could have much more but don’t think it is appropriate to be taking peoples’ money this far in advance. We have interest from Eastern Europe. Romania is involved. We believe it will be one of the first users. Russia is no problem. Most countries in Asia are interested. Hyperion has to follow what the State Department and Department of commerce tell us to do. There are extensive laws and regulations on who we can even talk with.” -End-

Hyperion mini nuclear power modules are perfect for military use. The ability to quickly import units to provide power for temporary operations, such as in Iraq or Afghanistan and then take the reactor to the next site later is very appealing. Hyperion nuclear power modules can also power permanent bases around the globe. It makes sense, for security, that military bases be powered by a source independent of the local, often more fragile and vulnerable, public utility.

Hyperion units can provide power for exploration of oil and other treasure any where in the world, no matter how remote.

Portable, small, cost-effective, tamper-resistant and self-regulating, Hyperion has a viable nuclear power resource for developing nations and communities in remote regions of the world. They can be placed in series (ganged) for much larger installations.

Hyperionâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Power Module has the capability to power 20,000 standard American size houses for 7 to 10 years.

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