In rural or remote areas, a reliable electricity supply is not always available, but energy entrepreneurs are working to change that.

Hyperion Power Generation is among the companies hoping to fill this market niche.  The company has designed a small-scale nuclear power module that can power 25,000 homes for a five-year period.

The nuclear module—roughly the size of a hot tub—has no moving parts.  It is self-regulating and fail-safe, according to the company. 

A utility company can transport the module by land or water.  Once at the designated site, workers would place the module underground, seal it with concrete and link it to a steam turbine.  After approximately five to 10 years of operation, depending on use, the utility could return the module to the factory for refueling.

The module’s initial application is likely to be oil field operations, company officials said.  Today, natural gas powers steam engine extraction and refinery machines operating in oil shale fields.   One Hyperion reactor could power this machinery, saving an estimated $2 billion over five years.

Beyond oil production, other reactor applications include water purification and electrification in developing countries.  It also could provide electricity for remote or rural communities in the United States. 

Representatives of Hyperion Power Generation told U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission staff last year that the analysis and design documentation needed for an NRC pre-application review would be available in 2009.  A pre-application review resolves issues prior to the submittal of a request for certification of a reactor design by the NRC.

The company plans to begin manufacturing the module at a New Mexico factory by late 2012.

Like Hyperion Power Generation, Japan’s Toshiba Corp. has designed a small-scale reactor.  The 4S is a 10-megawatt unit proposed for construction at Galena, a remote village in Alaska that relies on diesel generators for its electricity.

The 4S—that stands for super safe, small and simple—would be fueled by uranium and cooled by molten sodium.  It could operate for up to 30 years without refueling.

Like the Hyperion unit, potential applications for the 4S include water desalinization plants, oil fields and mines, as well as isolated or remote communities.

Representatives of Toshiba and its U.S. subsidiary, Westinghouse, met with NRC staff last fall to initiate a pre-application review of the 4S.  The company has said it plans to submit an application for design certification of the reactor in 2009.

Developers of the NuScale reactor have indicated that they intend to enter into pre-application discussions with the NRC this summer.  A pre-application review by the NRC staff could take between 18 and 24 months.  The company said it planned to submit a design certification application in 2010.  The reactor has an electrical output of about 45 megawatts.

Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Energy, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and other partners are developing mid-sized reactors, which range in size from 250 megawatts to 500 megawatts.  Such reactors are more practical for developing nations than the large 1,000- to 1,300-megawatt commercial reactors built in developed countries, according to the lab.  Such reactors could enable developing countries to meet growing electricity demand while preventing greenhouse gas emissions.