Waves of new reactors get deals

Radical designs seek investors

Several developers of new reactor designs reported progress this week during the semi-annual meeting of the American Nuclear Society (ANS). The investor looking for something completely different that might make a difference to the nuclear energy industry has three new ideas to choose from this week.

Traveling Wave

At the head of the parade of press releases comes TerraPower, a brainchild of Microsoft billionaire Bill Gates and Nathan Myhrvold, the former head of Microsoft’s R&D unit. TerraPower is a spinoff from Intellectual Ventures, which is headed by Myhrvold and funded in part by the Gates Foundation. The Traveling Wave reactor project got $35 million in start-up money from two high profile venture capital funds – Charles River Ventures and Vinod Khosla. [Press release]

What’s interesting about the investments is that they run counter to the timeline for cash out by VC firms which typically is a maximum of three-to-five years. It could easily take a decade or more for the new reactor design to be ready for commercial applications.

The 500 MW reactor design is larger than some of the other so-called small reactors (SMRs) that have come forward in recent years including the 45 MW NuScale design and Babcock & Wilcox with their 125 MW mPower project. Both are conventional light water reactor designs.

TerraPower’s “traveling wave” design is a sodium cooled reactor that uses U-238 and PU-239 after an initial start with U-235. It is designed to run for 60 years without refueling and also would be less attractive to would-be bomb makers because of its fuel design.

Hyperion teams with AEHI

In an unusual deal New Mexico-based Hyperion Power Generation signed an MOU with Idaho’s Alternative Energy Holdings Inc. (OTC:AEHI). The intent of the agreement is for AEHI to license and market the 25 MW Hyperion fast reactor to Asian markets especially China. [Press release]

Hyperion’s design is based on a uranium alloy fuel with a liquid metal coolant to take reactor heat to the secondary loop. The reactor is to be marketed for desalinization plants, remote mines, and for other “distributed power” off-the-grid applications at remote sites. Reliable power for military bases is also touted as a possible application.

The reactor is expected to be small enough to be trucked or barged to a site. Once the fuel is exhausted, in about five years, the entire unit would be replaced.

Hyperion’s reactor is still in the design stage. Given the daunting challenges it would face getting through the NRC’s certification process, it is no surprise that the firm is seeking customers in markets outside the U.S. AEHI has been developing business relationships in China which is one of the world’s most intensive developers of new reactors.

AEHI has also been working to develop a conventional large light water reactor in Payette County, Idaho. However, one of the challenges faced building a 1,400 MW reactor at that site is the transmission and distribution infrastructure in the region isn’t capable of taking that amount of power and delivering it to customers.

It has been suggested to AEHI that it consider small reactor designs for the Idaho site. However, AEHI has persisted in claiming it will deliver a KEPCO 1,400 MW reactor for the Idaho project. The design is not certified in the U.S. by the NRC.

While Hyperion has some venture capital funding, and the prospects for attracting more investors, AEHI has hired and fired two investment banking firms. Neither had experience in the energy business. Unhappily for AEHI, the second firm took AEHI’s $25,000 fee and allegedly spent it on parties at ski chalets. The third firm has not produced any investors for AEHI though CEO Don Gillisipe says he remains optimistic that funding is just around the corner. In the meantime, the firm has funded its operations with stock purchases by board members and executives of the firm.

Advanced Reactor Concepts offers 100 MW design based on EPR-II

The ARC-100 reactor is a 100 MW sodium-cooled fast reactor with an expected refueling cycle of 20 years. The core runs at 510 C to transfer heat to a liquid sodium secondary loop. The reactor can be used to heat water for steam to make electricity or for process heat applications especially those that are not connected to the grid. ARC is planning to offer customers a turbine that runs on supercritical carbon dioxide based on the Brayton Cycle that has the potential to offer higher levels of thermal efficiency.

ARC lists four advantages for its design

• Security of a sealed reactor unit
• Passive decay heat removal
• Plug and play fuel replacement
• No fuel or spent fuels stored at the reactor

The ARC reactor design is based on the EBR II reactor developed at Argonne West in Idaho. The ARC technical team includes scientists and engineers who were senior members of the EBR II team.

Like several other small reactors, ARC has attracted an initial round of investors,and with its official announcement this week, is on the hunt for additional financing.