Eco Factor: Underground portable nuclear modules can provide power to 20,000 homes.
With the energy crisis looming large, researchers are on their heels to provide a power source that should be clean, efficient, and most important of all should be cheap. While nuclear energy might ring some warning bells in your brain, used safely it is one source that can provide extremely cheap energy without any harmful emissions.
Hyperion Power Generation has developed a portable nuclear power plant that can provide green electricity to about 20,000 homes. The company has taken its first orders and is planning to mass produce the plants within five years. The power plants measure just 1.5 meters across and can be easily transported and buried underground. Once the $25 million power plant is buried, it is ready to provide electricity for as low as 10 cents a watt to about 20,000 homes.
Since the power plant has no moving parts, nothing wears down and the site never needs to be opened again. The company has claimed that it is impossible for the module to go supercritical, or melt down, or create any type of emergency situation. They also say that in order to enrich the uranium for any use other than electricity generation, would require national resources that makes its misuse impossible.
The modules need to be refueled every seven to ten years. Even after continuously generating power for five years the module produces a total waste of about the size of a football, which could be easily recycled.
The Dark Side:
Nuclear energy has always been criticized mainly because of radiation fears. Hyperion states that their modules are safe in every manner; still, it would take some hard work to make people living in areas near this module believe that they are completely safe.
