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Thursday March 6, 2008
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Now that it has lost the high-def format war, Toshiba seems to be pursuing a different agenda... a nuclear agenda. According to Next Energy News, scientists at the company have apparently developed a nuclear reactor that is 100 times smaller than current reactors and could fit comfortable inside a home. The 200-kilowatt reactor is only 20 feet by 6 feet and is engineered to be "fail-safe, totally automatic, and not overheat."
There are no control rods in this new class of reactor: Instead, it uses reservoirs of an isotope called liquid lithium-6. These reservoirs are connected to a tube that sits in the reactor core. The whole setup is projected to provide energy for 40 years at 5 cents per kilowatt. The first reactor should be installed in Japan in 2008 and in the US and Europe in 2009.
[Via Dvorak Uncensored]
Posted By:
Dan Evans
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March 7, 2008 7:16 AM
This is a larger version of the widely used General Atomics TRIGA reactor, which was designed to be idiot proof for university use, to allow students direct experience with nuclear reactors without concern about them melting down the campus.
The Toshiba unit only produces hot water/steam, so a steam turbine and generator set must be added to get electric power. Eventual disposal of the reactor and its fuel remains an open issue, but at least it avoids the 40 years of greenhouse gas and mercury emissions that a coal fired plant would produce.
March 17, 2008 9:47 PM
At last! We begin to use modern technology in 2008!
In 10 years, it should be smaller! Each home/enterprise will be responsible of his energy consommation.
There's hope for the human race after all!
Hope the cost won't be just for richest people...