DISQUS

Next Big Future: CEO of Hyperion Power Generation interviewed about the Uranium Hydride reactor

  • mvetsel · 1 year ago
    I'm curious how they get to the cost of 5 cents per kwh that the CEO mentions. Going mostly with the assumptions I gleaned from the article arrives at a cost of just 2.6 cents per kwh:

    Generating capacity: 27 mw
    Uptime: 100%
    Annual production: 27 mw * 24 * 365 = 236 GWH
    Total cost: $30 million
    Annual cost (capital cost amortized over 7 years at 10%): $6.2 million

    Cost / kwh: $6.2 million / 236,000,000 kwh = 2.6 cents / kwh

    So I'm using the most conservative assumptions and somehow I'm still missing about $6 million in annual costs.

    -Mercy
  • Will_Brown · 1 year ago
    Just speculating here, but one possibility is that Mr. Deal is including the expense of ultimate unit replacement in his kwh pricing model. Given the relatively short field lifecycle of any given unit, that has to be a consideration for any distributed network utility provider, for only one example.
  • qraal · 1 year ago
    Hi Brian

    Interesting development. Will change the face of nuclear power... hopefully. Maybe someone will talk sense to those idiot environmentalists who still oppose nuke-power. Perhaps after 4,000 reactors run for 10-20 years with no problems and minimal waste.
  • rbl · 1 year ago
    I think the $25M cost is just for the reactor heat source. Not all of the reactors will be used for electric power generation; some will be used for direct industrial heating. Electric generators will have to include the cost of the boiler, heat exchangers, steam turbine, electric genset, and waste heat cooling ponds.