By Jacob Mazer, Assistant Editor, Fuel Cycle Week

Hyperion Power Generation has received media attention this week, with articles that observed in wonderment the company’s $100 million valuation—a significant sum, especially given that its product is an untested technology several years from deployment.

The company plans to sell a line of miniature nuclear reactors—we’re talking 6-foot by 10-foot miniatures—that would generate 70 MW of heat and 25 MW of electricity, each running at about $25-$30 million.

Hyperion believes the reactor will be particularly appealing to developing nations that may not have the transmission infrastructure to support larger generation facilities.

The company’s business plan is equally ambitious, with designs to open as many as eight manufacturing facilities across the globe, for a combined potential to fabricate 1,000 reactors per year.

Idaho and New Mexico are offering tax incentives to attract these plants, CEO John “Grizz” Deal said, and joint-venture discussions are underway in Eastern Europe, Asia, and Australia. “We are four years away from putting the first reactor in the ground,” Deal said.

Given the different facets of this plan, that’s a lot of optimism, verging in some respects on wishful thinking. The four-year timeline until deployment proposed by Deal is plainly not feasible when one considers the time needed for the design review and certification by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

The point is confirmed by NRC Spokesman John McIntyre. “I can’t comment on Hyperion’s business projections, but the certification and approval of the small reactor design will take several years,” McIntyre said. Furthermore, a lousy world economy has not made the financing of large industrial projects any easier, be it a $25 million reactor or a $100 million manufacturing plant, even with the company’s relatively strong financial position.

Deal noted that Hyperion is applying for federal stimulus money, but new and untested technologies don’t exactly have the best record of scoring that backing.

Still, the company supposedly has 70 reactor orders on its books, which means someone believes in the plan. Romania’s TES group is to be the first customer, signing a letter of intent to buy six units last August, with interest in purchasing up to 50 more if the reactor proves satisfactory.

We’ll be watching as details develop to see whether Hyperion pulls some miracle moves to carry out its plans, or whether it’s all just—forgive the pun—hype.



Fuel Cycle Week covers the global commercial nuclear industry, offering fresh analysis and commentary on the uranium, conversion, enrichment and reactor markets.

FCW and its blog are published by International Nuclear Associates Inc., a Washington-D.C. based consulting company.   Link to original post