Toshiba’s Micro Nuclear Reactor
Toshiba’s new Micro Size Nuclear Reactors measure only 20 feet by 6 feet, making them small enough to fit in a basement, and produce 200 kilowatts, enough to power a remote village, small business, or secret laboratory. The reactor is fail safe, totally automatic, and will not overheat. It does not work with control rods like traditional reactors, but a new technology that uses liquid lithium-6 reservoirs, which connect to a vertical tube fitted into the reactor core. The end result is electricity for about 5 cents per kiowatt hour, which is half the price of grid energy (making the pricetag around $3,500,000). Lithium-6 is a controlled material because of its use as a ‘thermonuclear secondary’, that is, you cannot make a nuclear weapon out of Lithium-6 (primaries like Uranium or Plutonium are needed), however it can be used to deliver a greater nuclear yield from a smaller, lighter package, when part of a two-stage "dry" nuclear weapon. So, while Lithium-6 can make a nuke more powerful, having a micro nuclear reactor is not the same as sitting on a bomb. It is control over existing ‘primaries’ that is of greater concern. Moreover, a wider use of small nuclear reactors could help decentralize power production, thus reducing the risk of massive outages like the great Northeast blackout of 2003. Besides, of the 441 major nuclear powerplants in the world today, 104 are in the US supplying over 1,000 megawatts of power. The first reacor will be installed in Japan in 2008, with marketing in Europe and America to start in 2009.
Toshiba Seeks U.S. Approval for Micro Reactor for Rural Power, Bloomberg.com
Toshiba Builds 100x Smaller Micro Nuclear Reactor, NextEnergyNews.com
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Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 11:30 am
Sorry, that was my last mistake above….
I want one these power plants, energy prices here in UK are going dilly…..
Comment by Anonymous — June 27, 2008 @ 11:31 am