Amory Lovins likes to deny the fact that private money is very interested in nuclear technology, while Al Gore is convinced that reactors only come in one size – extra large.
Two companies have recently formed that put a lie to both of those theories. NuScale Power and Hyperion Power Generation are both venture funded companies with exciting products in the pipeline.
NuScale Power is developing a 45 MWe natural circulation light water reactor that is designed to use conventional steam turbine technology. The reactor pressure vessel is small enough to fit on a conventional truck and to be manufactured in a variety of pressure vessel manufacturing plants. The only real difference between the fuel planned for NuScale and that used in existing light water reactors is that the tube bundles are much shorter at 6 feet long rather than 15 feet long.
Hyperion Power Generation is working to produce 25 MWe power systems where the heat source is about 1.5 meters in diameter and designed to be installed underground.
You can read more about both companies and their projects at NuScale Power and Hyperion Power Generation – Nuclear Power Systems That Are Not “Extra Large”
