Topic: Your very own personal nuclear reactor

[toasty0]

Dear Santa, for Christmas I want one of these: http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/10/power-to-overall-weight-ratio-aspect-of.html

[marstone]

Dear Santa, for Christmas I want one of these: http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/10/power-to-overall-weight-ratio-aspect-of.html

oo oooo oo, I want one.  It would go nice right next to my forge in the garage.

[Bonk]

I worked on a SLOWPOKE under Dr. Chatt at Dalhousie for a couple of years. This schematic from The University of Toronto shows it is a similar scale but SLOWPOKEs are only around 20 kW instead of the promised 30 MW of this as yet unrealised "Hyperion Power Nuclear Reactor ". Qute a difference, but not unreasonable as the SLOWPOKE design could easily be taken into the MW range now.

[NJAntman]

OMG, GreenPeace and Jane Fonda would have fits and seizures if these things make it to market.

Bring it on!

Imagine one of these in every major city as a primary source and backup for vital services like hospital, engineering/sanitation plants, and tranportation systems.

OPEC best buy up and bury Hyperion quickly.

[Bonk]

OMG, GreenPeace and Jane Fonda would have fits and seizures if these things make it to market.

I'm pretty sure that Greenpeace is coming around to the reality that nuclear power is environmentally friendly compared to our current  situation. They did eventually back down on shipping decommissioned materials from the US for disposal in Canadian fast breeder reactors.

I should be an AECL - CANDU salesman, I am a true believer in the superiority and environmental soundness of Canadian nuclear technology.

[Nemesis]

One of the founders of Greenpeace has gone on to become pro nuclear and recognizes (now) that nuclear power is less harmful to the environment than fossil fuels (check the radiation release of coal power plants).

[marstone]

here is an update I got sent to me about these nuke plants.

We've been hearing talk of mini-sized nuclear reactors for a year or longer, but now it looks like Hyperion is actually starting to build them. The hot tub-sized fission reactors, each capable of cranking out 25 megawatts of clean power (enough to run 20,000 homes), will use what's called "low-enriched" uranium fuel.

These $25 million "nuclear batteries" will have no moving parts, staying sealed up in a cask deep underground, operating without the need for human intervention for five years at a time. They're going to be cost-effective, too — in a 10,000-home community it would cost about $2,500 per home served. Many homeowners spend that much on energy in a year. If this happens, that'll be some cheap power.

The company says it's already begun construction of the first 4,000 units in three factories, with the initial 100 destined for industrial use. Convincing the U.S. population these reactors are worthwhile — that's the hard part.