A1A South

From Al Fin:

Hyperion is doing something very clever: They plan to get their design licensed in the UK, to allow UK production and international delivery. This bypasses the exorbitant US licensing fees for new reactor designs.

The key to the success of Hyperion will be its fuel – uranium hydride powder, which allows the hydrogen moderator to easily move in and out of the core. The physical characteristics of uranium hydride, a combined fuel and neutron energy moderator, are ideal for the generation of safe nuclear power. The reactor operates at an optimum temperature of 550°C, selected as the goal for the so-called Generation IV reactors by the US Department of Energy (DoE). At 550°C, the dissociation pressure for the hydrogen above the hydride is approximately eight atmospheres, which permits easy transportation of the gas without presenting significant high-pressure risk. The temperature-driven mobility of the hydrogen contained in the hydride can change the moderation, and therefore the reactor criticality, making the reactor self-regulating.

The hydrogen forced out of the core during any over-temperature excursion reduces the neutron energy moderation necessary for nuclear criticality. The Hyperion Power Module is inherently fail-safe, since any temperature increase from excess activity immediately reduces the criticality parameters and thus the power production. The consequent power reduction causes the temperature to decrease and that temperature decrease eventually reverses the process, resulting in relaxation oscillations that quickly damp out to steady-state operation. __NEI

The US Obama administration has thrown a wide ring of strangulation around US baseload energy sources and fuel supplies. Rather than fighting a battle against Obama czars and zombies, Hyperion has chosen to take its safe, inexpensive approach to abundant energy somewhere that is more likely to appreciate it.

Once again, folks, it’s not about power, it is about control. You are going to have to stand up against these crazy people sooner rather than later.

I had *hoped* to be able to sleep in this morning. Maybe until 6 a.m. Maybe even until 7 a.m.! But nooooooooooo. An insistent chorus of “want chocklitmilk meemaw, want chocklitmilk meemaw, want chocklitmilk meemaw, want chocklitmilk meemaw repeated over and over and then, when the only response was something like “mrffffff? Go back sleep”, it got repeated much louder over and over and over and over. So, Dylan got his chocolate milk and then, because dinosaurs might be lurking in the hallway in the predawn, an escorted trip to the bathroom was performed. The sight of bleary-eyed, messy-haired Meemaw staggering to the bathroom in the predawn hours would be enough to make the hungriest lurking dinosaur run screaming from the hallway, no doubt. Cartoons were located by popular demand. (Their demand, that is.)

Then a quick trip outside to kennel puppy, feed Breeze the horse, let Odie off the porch to pee, and throw some corn out for the ducks and chickens (and squirrels).

Then back inside to find that Dylan is sitting inside an insulated freezer bag (no, I don’t know why) and Jacob is asking snarkily why I haven’t fixed breakfast yet. After all, that is my JOB. Jacob is STARVING.

So, it was off to the kitchen to mix muffins with Meemaw adding ingredients and two little boys stirring. The raucous kitchen hilarity woke Papa just as the first dozen muffins were going into the oven. 2-year-old Dylan counted out the muffin tin liners in a *very* loud voice. Unfortunately, counting is not a concept that the children in my class understand, and they are much, much older than little Dylan.