Going nuclear for clean water.

• Author: Cote, Mike
• Position: COTE'S Colorado

A couple of years ago, the ultra-liberal magazine Mother Jones made local headlines when publisher Jay Harris endorsed nuclear power during a panel talk at the World Affairs Conference in Boulder. Lucifer wrapped a scarf around his freezing neck, and a pig flapped its wings.

The "poison power" that inspired the "No Nukes" concert 30 years ago featuring such mainstream rockers as Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and the Doobie Brothers is now considered part of the solution to reducing carbon emissions.

But if liberals want to truly show their support for nuclear power they need to do more than just wave a flag.

That's where John "Grizz" Deal comes in.

The self-described social liberal and veteran of the Department of Energy aims to elevate the prominence of nuclear reactors by cutting them down to size - small enough to sit on the back of a flatbed truck. And what's more, he sees the transportable reactors his company is making as a way to help developing countries find clean water in rural areas.

"When people talk about nuclear power, they visualize 'the Man,' the big company. It's big; it's expensive, multibillionaire dollar things," Deal said during a presentation in January sponsored by the DaVinci Institute. "I got involved because I didn't think it had to be that way."

Hyperion Power Generation is on schedule to deliver its first nuclear reactors by 2013, the CEO told about 60 people gathered in Westminster. Early customers include the Czech Republic and Romania. Hyperion got the thumbs up from two university professors and a long-time veteran of the nuclear industry during a panel discussion that followed (which I had the honor of moderating.)

Deal, who is based in Denver, has been working for the past three years to bring to market a nonweapons grade nuclear reactor invented by Dr. Otis "Peter" Peterson at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico. The company's headquarters is in Santa Fe.

The self-contained units - fueled only at the factory and returned there for refueling after their eight- to 10-year supply of energy is exhausted - are 1.5 meters wide and 2.5 meters tall. The reactors are buried underground, and the electric generation components...