Toshiba makes a personal Nuclear Reactor. Available in the US 2009

http://www.nextenergynews.com/news1/next-energy-news-toshiba-micro-nuclear-12.17b.html

by Readmore • 19 years ago

24 17 19 years ago

Here's the real issue:

How many people are employed by power companies and their related organizations? Thousands? Hundreds of Thousands? Millions? My guess is millions at least.

When all those people lose their jobs because everyone has their own power plant in their basement, it's going to make the depression look like a bull market!

This is the true cost of our way of life that most environmentalists have trouble admitting. The scale of change required would be revolutionary. It will hurt.

edu2• 19 years ago

But then you will need people to setup the new reactor, you will need salesmen, you will need technicians to run revisions. Probably not all places will be safer enough to hold a nuclear reactor, so probably the traditional grid will be still necessary... Think of it like a distributed power plant with a grid which still needs maintenance.

edw519• 19 years ago

Don't forget the hackers and painters.

run4yourlives5• 19 years ago

Of course, but for a certain period, those will be different people. That's massive change. People don't like change generally.

I'm not saying it shouldn't happen, or that it won't. All I'm saying is that the type of disaffection these types of changes create usually creates a short period of misery while the power (no pun there) is shifted to the new order.

Every technological change of this magnitude has resulted in political fallout. To suggest otherwise is hopelessly naive.

Not everyone is able to see this as opportunity - most will see it as a threat to the status quo they enjoy.

Tichy2• 19 years ago

Please tell me that you are joking.

run4yourlives5• 19 years ago

Joking about what?

$3000 says that regulatory hurdles are put up all over the place by governments before the first one gets installed. That will happen mainly for the same reason there are tons of regulatory hurdles in place for Hydrogen powered cars. There is a lot of power that will need to be shifted before this becomes a reality.

You can barely drive a segway on the sidewalk, you think you're going to be allowed to install a nuclear reactor in your basement?

kirubakaran• 19 years ago

You mean, just like all those Gatorade employees in the movie Idiocracy? :-)

run4yourlives5• 19 years ago

lol, yeah, kind of like that I guess.

michaelneale• 19 years ago

But, its got what plants need !

(Brawno I think they called it).

edu2• 19 years ago

Maybe its premature optimization, but: what happens when the fuel is consumed? All the reactor must be dumped or it is enough with the fuel?

I hope the owners never have to call the helpdesk!

DaniFong• 19 years ago

The DOE has a similar project on a larger scale. Typically in these designs the fuel comes with the reactor, along with everything else: it is a sealed device. Once the fuel is spent, the reactor is shipped back to a plant, the waste disposed, and the case recycled and refueled.

trekker7• 19 years ago

Is this a joke? Would you really feel comfortable with a nuclear reactor in your basement?

dag• 19 years ago

"Please tell me this doesn't run on gas! Gas explodes, you know?"

jadams• 19 years ago

Yes, given a history of testing. I don't want to be the guinea pig, but the simple fact that it's nukuler isn't an issue.

leoc• 19 years ago

Apparently Toshiba is planning to pilot this (or something of the kind) in Galena, Alaska:

http://www.adn.com/front/story/4214182p-4226215c.html

http://www.kiyu.com/news1007_2.htm

Toshiba makes a personal Nuclear Reactor. Available in the US 2009

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