“Nuclear power” isn’t the safest thing to mention in front of conservationists and the ecologically conscious, even if only due to the bad rep it has. So this new product to be released by a company called Hyperion is certain to raise some hackles and start some kind of outcry – if it really delivers on its promise – that is, to provide a potentially long-lasting source of power in a device not much bigger than a small tool shed – a “mini” nuclear reactor.

                                              Size illustration for the truly "mini" reactor - it actually weighs "just" 8 tons.

The maker claims that there are no moving parts, and that it can provide enough power for ten thousand homes for more than 10 years at a cost much lower than what a typical home pays for electricity coming from the national grid. The mini reactor uses a small amount of non weapon-grade uranium in a 50-year old technology used all over research laboratories in the US. This presumably means that the design is a perfectly capable one and has been refined to the point of commercialization – a potential fact that may come true in 5 years or less, if Hyperion successfully pushes out the first actual working unit as promised.

                                            A representation of the multiple layers separating the "core" from the environment.

Hyperion hopes to sell these units to small communities at a cost of roughly $25M, which works out to $250 (P11250) per household, per year. Hyperion designed their reactors to be buried underground, and short of something actually cracking the tough casing and somehow using the low-grade uranium as “dirty” nuclear material for creating some kind of fallout, there’s really not much to worry about – and yes, that’s what I really want to say, but it is certain that it is at least a bit more worrisome than most other energy solutions out there.

It is true however that barring the somewhat improbable situation described above, a contained, low-grade uranium reactor can be one of the safest and cleanest solutions available – especially compared to coal burning or even gas-turbine generators – both solutions actually releases toxins and what are technically called “radioactive” materials such as radium. Hyperion also reassures by stating that any “fuel” exposed to air quickly cools down instead of causing something like a nuclear accident waiting to happen. Details are understandably sparse for these soon-to-be-commercial products, but with these descriptions it seems this mini reactor can be a good solution for over-dependence on oil for power – although I still wouldn’t want one somewhere within a 10 kilometer radius, even if it is buried underground.