Fairbanks man pursues nuclear power plant near Ester

John Reeves, a special assistant to the state transportation commissioner, hopes to build a small nuclear power generation facility in Ester south of Fairbanks.

Reeves owns a 4-acre site near the Parks Highway. He hopes to invest in a small-scale, self-contained reactor designed to be buried underground.

He has asked planners at the Fairbanks North Star Borough for permission to prepare the site. The commission has planned a hearing for August.

"This isn't a sprint," Reeves said. "This is something that's going to take a while for planning and engineering. I want everyone to have a chance to weigh in."

Reeves said he started researching small-scale nuclear power when another nuclear proposal cropped up in Galena. His research intensified when energy prices spiked last year, he said.

No U.S. nuclear plants have been built in decades. Traditional nuclear power plants are expensive to build and they produce troublesome radioactive waste.

Hyperion Power Generation, the company Reeves hopes to work with, reports on its Web site that its proposed modules are about the size of a hot tub but are powerful enough to run a 25-30 megawatt power plant -- a relatively small plant (the state's largest plant -- Chugach Electric Association's Beluga plant -- has a 385-megawatt capacity.

Hyperion said modules will be extremely safe and produce only a softball-sized amount of waste from five to 10 years of operation.

The company did say, however, that its buried units could require a "security detail."

Deborah Blackwell, a vice president and spokeswoman for Hyperion, said her company is pushing to begin filling orders in summer 2013. "Pushing" should not imply rushing, she said.

"It's not really a reactor in any way, shape or form in the way you'd think of a reactor," Blackwell said by phone. She likened the company's proposed modules to big, underground batteries that need zero maintenance until the fuel runs out.

Reeves would need an operating license from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Blackwell said.

About 300 potential investors have shown interest through letters of intent or other documents, she said, including three from Alaska.

Tom Marsh, chairman of the borough planning commission, said the hearing on Reeves' proposal will be a unique discussion for a board unfamiliar with energy issues. The board usually takes up changes in code or rezone requests.

"It's an issue we're going to be very careful about," Marsh said.

Reeves said he intends to sell electricity to Fairbanks' Golden Valley Electric Association. Such a sale would require a power-purchase agreement, said Kate Lamal, GVEA vice president of supply.

A downside to nuclear power, Reeves said, is the perception that it's not safe. He anticipates that testimony before the planning commission could take a while.

"I'll do whatever I need to do to make it right, as long as it's reasonable," Reeves said of conditions placed on his proposal.