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Bill Gates announced last week that his start-up company, TerraPower LLC, is ready to build and test a small-scale nuclear reactor that theoretically could power a local community for decades without having to be refueled.

The TerraPower traveling-wave reactor is designed to be buried in the ground, where it would run for 100 years.

Describing how the reactor would work, the Wall Street Journal explained last week that enriched uranium would shoot neutrons into the depleted uranium making up approximately 90 percent of the fuel.

That process would produce plutonium, designed to burn slowly in a controlled reaction that would continue over many years without the need of human intervention.

The Wall Street Journal also pointed out that large supplies of depleted uranium are available as a byproduct of today’s water-cooled nuclear reactors.

Gates was intrigued by the potential for small nuclear reactors to produce cheap, zero-carbon energy and its ability to turn what is a waste product (depleted uranium) into fuel.

Small nukes

A large part of Gates’ enthusiasm undoubtedly stems from Nathan Myhrvold, the ex-Microsoft chief scientist who started Intellectual Ventures that funded a start-up company named TerraPower.

The idea is to use depleted uranium to create small nuclear reactors capable of generating a few megawatts of power, enough to light up an industrial site or small city, all the way to creating multi-gigawatt reactors that could power major cities.

That small nuclear reactors can work safely and efficiently is amply demonstrated by the U.S. Navy that has been powering warships around the globe for decades now, all without catastrophes.

According to the World Nuclear Association, new third-generation nuclear reactors have simpler designs, are more fuel efficient and inherently safer than the types of nuclear reactors that produced the type of nightmare scenarios envisioned by meltdowns in earlier-generation nuclear power plants like Chernobyl in Russia or Three Mile Island in Pennsylvania.

TerraPower is also looking at producing a thorium reactor that does not produce plutonium as a byproduct.

Another pioneer, Hyperion Power Generation Inc., was formed to market a small, modular, non-weapons grade nuclear power generator created by Dr. Otis “Pete” Peterson at the Los Almos National Office in New Mexico, with the goal of powering industrial plants, military bases, hospitals, government complexes and college campuses.

The Hyperion website touts a small reactor – 1.5 meters in length and width, 2.5 meters in height – that produces enough electricity to power 20,000 average American homes.

The module can be buried underground, “out of sight and harm’s way,” and is equally capable of being transported by train, ship or truck.

Buried underground, the Hyperion nuclear generator is designed to provide power for seven to 10 years with minimal maintenance and no emission of so-called greenhouse gases.

Hyperion Power module-based 25MWe electric power plant

The success of companies producing small nuclear reactors has led to the designation of a new industry grouping under the heading of “Small and Modular Nuclear Power Reactors,” or SMRs.

Experienced nuclear power manufacturer Babcock & Wilcox is ready to deploy the B&W mPower reactor that has the capacity to provide 125MWe to 750MWe for five years without refueling, producing clean, nearly near-zero emission electricity.