Toshiba’s Home Nuclear Reactor

[The Straight Story]

Toshiba’s Home Nuclear Reactor

If we lived in a world where everyone was (a) smart and (b) trustworthy, Toshiba’s micro-sized nuclear reactor, small enough to fit in the basement or a large shed, would be a slam-dunk solution to the energy/climate crisis.

Twenty foot long by six foot wide, the reactors produce 200kW of energy and run themselves: the entire thing is manufactured with the fuel within, and when it runs out, they can just send a truck to pick it up.

"Unlike traditional nuclear reactors the new micro reactor uses no control rods to initiate the reaction. The new revolutionary technology uses reservoirs of liquid lithium-6, an isotope that is effective at absorbing neutrons. The Lithium-6 reservoirs are connected to a vertical tube that fits into the reactor core. The whole whole process is self sustaining and can last for up to 40 years, producing electricity for only 5 cents per kilowatt hour, about half the cost of grid energy."

Waste, you say? Throw it in a mile-deep pit in New Mexico, or something.

http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2007/12/toshibas-home-n/

[hunter]

1. Dick Cheney probably has one in his bunker to run his heart.

:yoiks:

[Warren Stupidity]

2. what could possibly go wrong?

[jpgray]

4. We are lucky that consumers are rational actors and understand risk

:patriot:

[gratuitous]

5. Exactly

And nobody lives in New Mexico or anywhere close to it, so waste disposal isn't a problem at all, at least until I'm dead, so what the hey!

[Warren DeMontague]

3. If we had a reasonable way to deal with the waste (beyond "bury it and hope no one finds it")

it actually might make sense.