Keep in mind that regardless of how simple these things are, a crew of fifty or a hundred people will be required to monitor, protect, and maintain them.
Turbines require ultra-clean water of the proper chemistry (no dissolved oxygen, neutral pH, etc.). The chemicals (like Hydrazine) and equipment (like resin beds) used to treat the water will reqire constant monitoring and maintenance.
Turbine lube oil requires constant monitoring, as does the electrical switchgear.
They will require a large security force to keep "terrorists" away.
These things sound like a step in the right direction, but let's be realistic. The power they might produce will not be "too cheap to meter".
Turbines require ultra-clean water of the proper chemistry (no dissolved oxygen, neutral pH, etc.). The chemicals (like Hydrazine) and equipment (like resin beds) used to treat the water will reqire constant monitoring and maintenance.
It's just a control and material processing problem. Given that the Japanese made photo processing machinery so reliable that they could hire American kids to run them in drugstores, do you really think that it is beyond them to reduce this to automated dispensers and fuzzy logic?
Turbine lube oil requires constant monitoring, as does the electrical switchgear.
Even on the scale of this smaller unit? Perhaps somebody has run a labor v. scale optimization (a Simplex problem if there ever was one)? Given that it's small, do you think they might have the switchgear down to solid state?
They will require a large security force to keep "terrorists" away.
This I doubt. Containment vessels take a bit of talent to breach.