Gen4 Energy, Inc. (formerly Hyperion Power Generation, Inc.
[Hyperion Power Generation Inc. Announces Change of Company Name to Gen4 Energy, Inc.]
13 March 2012, BusinessWire) was a privately held
corporation
A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the State (polity), state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as ...
formed to construct and sell several designs of relatively small (70
MW thermal, 25 MW electric)
nuclear reactor
A nuclear reactor is a device used to initiate and control a Nuclear fission, fission nuclear chain reaction. They are used for Nuclear power, commercial electricity, nuclear marine propulsion, marine propulsion, Weapons-grade plutonium, weapons ...
s, which they claimed would be
modular
Module, modular and modularity may refer to the concept of modularity. They may also refer to:
Computer science and engineering
* Modular design, the engineering discipline of designing complex devices using separately designed sub-components
...
,
inexpensive,
inherently safe
In the chemical industry, chemical and process industries, a process has inherent safety if it has a low level of danger even if things go wrong. Inherent safety contrasts with other processes where a high degree of hazard is controlled by protec ...
, and
proliferation-resistant. According to news coverage, these reactors could be used for
heat generation,
production
Production may refer to:
Economics and business
* Production (economics)
* Production, the act of manufacturing goods
* Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services)
* Production as a stat ...
of
electricity
Electricity is the set of physical phenomena associated with the presence and motion of matter possessing an electric charge. Electricity is related to magnetism, both being part of the phenomenon of electromagnetism, as described by Maxwel ...
, and other purposes, including
desalination
Desalination is a process that removes mineral components from saline water. More generally, desalination is the removal of salts and minerals from a substance. One example is Soil salinity control, soil desalination. This is important for agric ...
.
The company went out of business on the 1st of April 2018, after losing out on a second round of grants from the
Department of Energy
A ministry of energy or department of energy is a government department in some countries that typically oversees the production of fuel and electricity; in the United States, however, it manages nuclear weapons development and conducts energy-rela ...
in January 2016.
Early designs
Hyperion announced in November 2009 that, despite their continued intentions to pursue the self-moderated
uranium hydride Uranium hydride may refer to the following chemical compounds:
* Uranium(III) hydride
* Uranium(IV) hydride
See also
* Uranium hydride bomb
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