SANTA FE -- It sounds like something out of a sci-fi movie: A nuclear reactor smaller than an SUV that could produce electricity for 20,000 homes.

It would have no weaponsgrade material, produce very little waste and would need refueling once every five to 10 years.

You could bury it in the backyard -- not that you would want to.

This scenario is real.

A company partly owned by Los Alamos National Security, the consortium that runs the national lab, and using technology from the lab hopes to get regulatory approval and start manufacturing the minireactors within a few years.

The company, Hyperion Power Generation, already has a couple hundred orders pending and is proposing to mass-produce thousands of the reactors that would provide clean, reliable energy to industries and communities in remote areas.

The units could power military installations and islands, for example, or perhaps pump and clean water in developing countries.

About 5 feet wide, the Hyperion Power Module would leave the factory sealed and be carried by truck, train or ship to its destination, where it would be buried underground.

The reactor would power a steam turbine that could produce enough electricity for 20,000 American homes at a cost of 6 to 8 cents per kilowatt hour.

Public Service Company of New Mexico sells electricity for just more than 8 cents per kilowatt hour -- a figure that takes into account transmission, distribution and other expenses, as well as the power

generation. Hyperion CEO John Grizz Deal said in a telephone interview from Denver that more investors want to write checks for orders than the company knows what to do with. Hyperion is considering Lea County in southeastern New Mexico and Idaho Falls, Idaho, as possible homes for

its manufacturing facilities. More plants would be built abroad. The plan is to manufacture 4,000 units that sell for $25 million a pop.

The reactor was invented by then-LANL scientist Otis "Pete" Peterson. The lab licensed the technology to Hyperion for commercialization. Deal said Los Alamos National Security -- the lab's for-profit corporate manager -- owns part of the company.

Hyperion has said the reactor will need about three more years of work before it can be deployed.

The company plans to apply for design certification and a manufacturing license from the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. It will be up to a reactor's owner to obtain an NRC site permit and operating licence, Deal said.

Controlling fuel

The key to the reactor's slim figure is the nonweaponsgrade uranium that makes it run.