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Toshiba's building a "Micro Nuclear" reactor for your garage?
Engadget.com ^ | 12/19/07 | Paul Miller

Posted on 12/19/2007 10:31:51 AM PST by Reaganesque

Alright, details are slim, and we really have no idea if Toshiba has any plans whatsoever to sell these nuclear reactors to consumers -- in fact, we hope it doesn't -- but it does seem like the company is well on its way to commercializing the design. Toshiba's Micro Nuclear reactors are designed to power a single apartment building or city block, and measure a mere 20-feet by 6-feet. The 200 kilowatt reactor is fully automatic and fail-safe, and is completely self-sustaining. It uses special liquid lithium-6 reservoirs instead of traditional control rods, and can last up to 40 years, making energy for about 5 cents per kilowatt hour. Toshiba has been testing the reactors since 2005, and hopes to install its first reactor in Japan in 2008, with marketing to Europe and America in 2009. Oh, and we lied: we totally want one of these in our garage.


TOPICS: Business/Economy; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: energy; garage; micro; reactor; toshiba
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Hmmmm...I don't know about this. I think I'll wait and let others be the first adopters.
1 posted on 12/19/2007 10:31:54 AM PST by Reaganesque
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To: Reaganesque
Its been done:


2 posted on 12/19/2007 10:33:56 AM PST by ElkGroveDan (I'm sick and tired of being sick and tired of leftists.)
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To: Reaganesque

5 cents/kwh? Not very cheap.


3 posted on 12/19/2007 10:35:02 AM PST by GOP_Party_Animal
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To: Reaganesque
Alright, details are slim, and we really have no idea if Toshiba has any plans whatsoever to sell these nuclear reactors to consumers -- in fact, we hope it doesn't

Why not? Who wouldn't want a completely self-contained and safe source of essentially limitless power at 5cents a kilowatt, that lasts for 40 years? No more blackouts, no more rate increases, no worrying about replacing your nice incandescent light bulbs.

You'll have plenty of spare power to charge your car.

I want one.

4 posted on 12/19/2007 10:35:12 AM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Reaganesque

Is this design a “PEBBLE BED REACTOR” by any chance?..............


5 posted on 12/19/2007 10:35:18 AM PST by Red Badger ( We don't have science, but we do have consensus.......)
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To: Reaganesque

Not only do you cut the cost of purchased electricity, you’d save the cost of backup generators for your facility (You’d use the grid for backup for your reactor.) And, you should get points from the greenies for cutting your carbon footprint.


6 posted on 12/19/2007 10:35:41 AM PST by PAR35
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To: Reaganesque

Since it is 30 below and Fair4banks doesn’t allow woodstoves to be used when it gets cold (it’s not really cold yet) it seems a few of these Toshiba reactors would be ideal in this town.


7 posted on 12/19/2007 10:36:03 AM PST by RightWhale (Dean Koonz is good, but my favorite authors are Dun and Bradstreet)
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To: Reaganesque

I think it’s great. We are in an energy crisis. We should have one of there everywhere possible, as well as full size nuke plants in every state. We’ll sell the excess electricity to Canada and Mexico. And we’ll run all of our cars, buses, trucks, and trains off electricity. Then we can tell our enemies to go get bent because we don’t need their oil anymore.


8 posted on 12/19/2007 10:36:09 AM PST by mysterio
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To: Reaganesque

One of these would power about ten cabins today.


9 posted on 12/19/2007 10:37:12 AM PST by RightWhale (Dean Koonz is good, but my favorite authors are Dun and Bradstreet)
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To: Reaganesque

That’s the second reactor they have designed today......:o)

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1941572/posts


10 posted on 12/19/2007 10:37:21 AM PST by Squantos (Be polite. Be professional. But, have a plan to kill everyone you meet. ©)
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To: GOP_Party_Animal
5 cents/kwh? Not very cheap.

You must get subsidized electricity from TVA or Bonneville. Around here, the retail rate is 12 to 14 cents per kWh.

11 posted on 12/19/2007 10:37:55 AM PST by PAR35
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To: Reaganesque

Remember when these types of innovation came from IBM, Honeywell, General Electric, etc?
Remember when an American kid could get an engineering degree and have a resonable expectation of a job and a good career?

Not to worry, England travelled down this path, and the social welfare state has worked real well for them, right?


12 posted on 12/19/2007 10:38:18 AM PST by brownsfan (America has "jumped the shark")
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To: Reaganesque

Mao Tse-Tung thought it would be a great idea to have every farmer build a backyard iron foundry to kick start industrial growth.


13 posted on 12/19/2007 10:39:05 AM PST by AU72
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To: brownsfan

Remember when the unions and lawyers weren’t an anchor around the neck of American industry?


14 posted on 12/19/2007 10:41:06 AM PST by Spktyr (Overwhelmingly superior firepower and the willingness to use it is the only proven peace solution.)
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To: Reaganesque

Someone needs to figure out a micro steam generator that would fit just inside the human ear. My ex stays so steamed at me she could power a small city.


15 posted on 12/19/2007 10:41:11 AM PST by Rb ver. 2.0 (Global warming is the new Marxism.)
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To: Reaganesque

Never happen for retail use...

The SOVIETS designed and built around 200 very small Strontium reactors to power weather stations, and other extreme remote sites in the 60’s and 70’s...

Today, people are DYING because they leak, or some idiot breaks one down for scrap metal...


16 posted on 12/19/2007 10:42:40 AM PST by tcrlaf (VOTE DEMOCRAT-You'll look great in a Burka!)
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To: RightWhale

Why doesn’t Fairbanks allow you to use a heat source when it’s really cold? As opposed to allowing you to use the same source when it’s “warmer”?


17 posted on 12/19/2007 10:43:18 AM PST by brownsfan (America has "jumped the shark")
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To: RightWhale
You should switch to hot water. My folks in the Rocky Mountains (-13 this morning) have a hot water heater set at 75 degrees, and a water hose that runs throughout the house in the floor. It is toasty warm, hot air never blows and the hot water heater is set at 75, not too much energy.
18 posted on 12/19/2007 10:43:35 AM PST by SF Republican
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To: Reaganesque

L. Neil Smith predicted this in his novel the Probability Broach. His version was more of a “cold fusion” type thing though. Dock him points for that... Concept is the same otherwise.


19 posted on 12/19/2007 10:44:35 AM PST by Dead Corpse (What would a free man do?)
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To: brownsfan

The Israelis should have been working on this to bankrupt their enemies.


20 posted on 12/19/2007 10:44:54 AM PST by normy (Don't take it personally, just take it seriously.)
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