How is it different from conventional nuclear power and traditional carbon-based fuels?
Hyperion is:
Safer
Cleaner: devoid of atmospheric (global warming) emissions
Environmentally friendly
Substantially smaller
Transportable
Less expensive per unit
Dramatically less expensive for power produced
Buried out of sight

What is Hyperion’s output?
Approximately 70 megawatts (MW) of heat (thermal energy) and 25 megawatts (MW) of electrical power via steam turbine

This is approximately enough power for one Hyperion module to provide electricity for a community of 20,000 average-sized American-style homes. Hyperion modules can also been “ganged” in multiples to provide even more power.

What are some of the proposed applications for Hyperion? Any location where access to a common power grid is:

Unavailable – location is too remote
Too expensive for users
Unreliable or if independence is desired
Requires a back-up source of power

Is Hyperion Power Generation, Inc. (HPG) interested in obtaining investment capital for the development or manufacture of Hyperion?
Hyperion Power Generation, Inc. (HPG) is a private company and has all the capital needed for the current development phase of Hyperion. However, additional rounds of funding opportunities will be announced in the future. HPG will seek investment from firms and investors that can “add value” to the project beyond the infusion of cash (i.e., help advance Hyperion into the market).

Will HPG be a publicly traded company? Does HPG intend to announce a public stock offering?
Hyperion Power Generation, Inc. (HPG) is a private company. Offering the firm’s share to the general public is not part of our current capital plan. If you would like to be notified of developments in HPGs capital structure, please send an email to:

Who is currently funding the development of Hyperion?
The Hyperion project has been funded thus far by Denver-based Altira Group, one of the nation’s premier venture capital funds focused on alternative energy technologies, and by private individual investors.

Who is building the HPG company?
Santa Fe-based Purple Mountain Ventures, Inc. is supplying management services and personnel for Hyperion Power Generation.

When will Hyperion modules be available for sale?
HPG can begin discussions with interested parties for sale and installation at any time. Actual delivery is still a few years away.

When will Hyperion modules be available for delivery?
A customer’s proposed location, use, and financial support for an installation will determine the sale and delivery schedule.

Is HPG looking for a customer or location for installation of a prototype or Beta version?
HPG is already in discussion with customers for early installation. Entities interested in obtaining an early version should contact: info@hyperionpowergeneration and put “early installation” in the subject line.

What role does Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) have in the development of Hyperion?
Hyperion was invented by award-winning LANL scientist Dr. Otis Peterson while he was employed full-time by the lab. Under the Technology Transfer program for U.S. national laboratories, LANL will continue to own intellectual property relating to the Hyperion technology, but the rights to commercialization (introduction, manufacturing, licensing, production, marketing, and sales) of the product resulting from Dr. Peterson’s invention are held by Hyperion Power Generation, Inc., (HPG) a Santa Fe, New Mexico-based corporation. HPG is paying for the license to the rights to the intellectual property known as Hyperion (aka Comstar). HPG is also funding further research and engineering of the technology for Hyperion at LANL.

Will other laboratories be involved?
Possibly. It may be necessary for some research and engineering to be carried out at other laboratories in order to access the most appropriate talent for certain tasks.

Who invented Hyperion?
Otis G. (Pete) Peterson, Ph.D. invented the self-regulating, inherently safe nuclear battery (reactor) during his tenure at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL). In addition to designing the Hyperion reactor and co-inventing a biomass to fuel conversion process, his technical expertise has focused on wavelength tunable lasers, solid-state physics, and international science issues.

Among his many career accomplishments, Dr. Peterson holds six patents including those for his inventions of the cw Dye Laser and Alexandrite Laser, which earned R&D 100 awards. In the 1990’s he served as science attaché at the American Embassy in London for environmental preservation and non-proliferation issues. He has served as a group leader at LANL and in management positions at Eastman Kodak and Allied Chemical, where he co-founded the laser-induced chemistry program. He is also the co-founder of the laser isotope separation program (AVLIS) at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in 1973, which continued for 26 years.

Honored with numerous awards and published widely, Dr. Peterson is a fellow of the Optical Society of America and his career publications have been cited over 1,200 times in technical literature. He was awarded his doctorate in Solid State Physics from the University of Illinois. Dr. Peterson is now the Chief Scientist for HPG. He has retired from full-time work at the lab.

Why is Hyperion safer than conventional nuclear power?
Often referred to as a “cartridge” reactor or “nuclear battery,” the Hyperion HyperDrive is self- regulating with no mechanical parts to break down or otherwise fail. The inherent properties of uranium hydride serve as both fuel and moderator providing unparalleled safety among nuclear reactors. Sealed at the factory, the module is not opened until it has been returned to the factory to be refueled, approximately every five years or so, depending on use. This containment, along with the strategy of completely burying the module at the operating site, protects against the possibility of human incompetence, or hostile tampering and proliferation.

Why is Hyperion cleaner and more environmentally friendly?
Nuclear power produces no greenhouse gases and therefore makes no contribution to global warming. In addition, the hydride fuel is simpler to reprocess, making it much more attractive to concentrate the radioactive fragments in the fuel and minimize waste disposal. The only water used in the operation is in the power conversion steam cycle, which is not exposed to any radiation. This greatly eliminates the potential for contamination of the environment.

How is Hyperion Less Expensive?
Hyperion offers a 30% reduction in capital costs from conventional gigawatt reactor installations (from US$2,000 per kW to US$1,400 per kW). Hyperion also offers more than a 50% reduction in operating costs (based on costs for field-generation of steam in heavy oil recovery operations), from US$7 per million BTU for natural gas to US$3 per million BTU for Hyperion. The possibility of mass production, operation and standardization of design for the Hyperion power module allows for significant savings.

How will Hyperion be transportable?
One of the largest problems in the energy industry today is the transmission of power from large generating facilities to distant locations. Currently, enormous infrastructure costs, reliability and loss issues plague this effort.

Initial design efforts for Hyperion indicate that the sealed chamber dimensions of the power modules can be limited in size -- approximately the size of a typical backyard hot tub. This is small enough so that the complete module could be transported via either land or by water to provide the long-awaited answer for the need for cost-efficient, practical power sources in rural or remote locations -- for everything from oil production to water purification.

Will Hyperion be a “manufactured” product?
The Hyperion design takes advantage of the economy of mass-production instead of the economy of scale (as is done presently with traditional reactors). HPG estimates that approximately 4,000 of the first module design will be needed to meet initial demand.

Will Hyperion be secure?
The power-producing core of this module will be contained within multiple gas-tight chambers to insure absolute containment of all gases, along with other contaminants in the unlikely event that a single chamber fails. Further, the module will be buried in the ground during its operational life. This will protect the module from almost all conceivable threats, natural or man-made, and make tampering extremely difficult. Additionally, active area security will be provided by the operator.

How does Hyperion work?
Unlike conventional designs, the proposed reactor is self-regulating through the inherent properties of uranium hydride, which serves as a combination fuel and moderator. The temperature-driven mobility of the hydrogen contained in the hydride controls the nuclear activity. If the core temperature increases over the set point, the hydrogen is driven out of the core, the moderation drops, and the power production decreases. If the temperature drops, the hydrogen returns and the process is reversed. Thus the design is inherently fail-safe and will require minimal human oversight. The compact nature and inherent safety open the possibility for low-cost mass production and operation of the reactors.

Will Hyperion be licensed by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission?
Requirements by the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) are considered the universal “gold standards” of safety. HPG has already had several meetings with the NRC and will continue to pursue the necessary design approvals and license to manufacture and operate Hyperion power modules.

Where can I get more information?