http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/ Engadget Comments for Toshiba's building a "Micro Nuclear" reactor for your garage? http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2010 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Jan 30th 2008 4:51PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
I mean, that's if it has real nuclear material in it, and even if it doesn't, I'm sure whatever it is using as a catalyst isn't safe if it were to be used in nefarious ways.]]>Dec 19th 2007 11:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 11:48AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
Lithium-6 is not highly radioactive so it wouldn't likely be used in a Dirty Bomb.

This is the reason FUSION power would be so important in the future.
#1 the waste from Fusion reactors has much shorter radioactive half lives.
#2 the products from Fusion can't be used to make nuclear weapons.
#3 Fusion would be cleaner and safer provided we had the technology to enclose the reaction under tremendous heat/pressure.]]>Dec 19th 2007 11:49AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 11:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
Its a nuclear reactor, therefore has to contain nuclear material and thus can be made into a dirty bomb. You don't need weapons grade stuff in it as you use conventional explosives in a dirty bomb and the nuclear material is a payload is it were.

Oh and @ Flashpoint in particular, Fusion doesn't use any radioactive materials at all and doesn't produce any radioactive products, rather than products with shorter half-lives.]]>Dec 19th 2007 11:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/


]]>Dec 19th 2007 12:03PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
Yes Fusion produces waste, but that waste happens to be Helium, a completely inert gas. Pretty much as safe as you can get.]]>Dec 19th 2007 12:12PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
When Lithium-6 catches those neutrons a by product is Tritium which can be fed back into the reactor.

While its not plutonium, there are still radioactive elements in a fusion reactor. ]]>Dec 19th 2007 1:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
Don’t blame the population for being terrified out of their minds from the "Invisible Terrorist" scattered through America, aka “Sleeper Cells”... Blame the Government and the Mass Media.

Also... does anybody even know what a dirty bomb is and how much damage it can do?
http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/doc-collections/fact-sheets/dirty-bombs.html
]]>Dec 19th 2007 1:54PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Fusion Reaction needs High Pressure and Temperature to take place. Comparable to Sun's core. This kind of Pressure and Temperature is humanly impossible to recreate.
In a Fusion Reactor or a Fusion Bomb (The H Bomb) First, a Fission Reaction is initialted which produces the required Temp and Pressure. Hydrogen atoms are then introducted and "secondary" Fusion Reaction takes place. Fusion Reactions are much complicated and much more cannot be controlled as easily as fission reactions. This is the reason why most of nuclear power plants are Fission based.
Additionally, a Fussion Reaction is as much radioactive as a fission reaction because of 1. The initial fission reaction and large amount of Gamma and high energy radiation produced.
Lastly, Dirty nukes are not dangerous because of radiation but because of their destructive power. For EG a so called Suitcase Nuke carries enough firepower, comparable to 10 to 15 truckloads of TNT or Dynamite.]]>Dec 19th 2007 2:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
Fusion is produced in dozens of laboratories worldwide daily. The temperatures, pressures and magnetic fields used are NOT impossible to create. In fact the most advanced fusion research reactors produce temperatures and pressures that are 100 times higher than the core of the sun. They also use magnetic fields that are about 10 times stronger than the suns.

In addition, fission is NOT used to start these reactions. Only on weapons are small fission bombs used to start the fusion reaction. In the modern fusion reactor the radiation produced is Alpha, Beta and Gamma. The alpha and beta over time cause the reactor itself to become a low level Beta emitter with a half life of around 5 years. It's expected that Fusion reactors that are past their life and disassembled will need to be stored for around 20 years before they can be scrapped and recycled safely.]]>Dec 19th 2007 3:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 3:47PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
First, there are no functioning fusion based power plants in the world,

Learn what a Dirty Bomb is before you talk, another name for such a device is a radiological dispersal device or RDD.

The purpose of these devices is to spread radioactive dust throughout an area. These devices use byproducts or Spent material from nuclear reactors such as the attempted Caesium-137 bomb in Chechnya.

No fission takes place in a Dirty Bomb, the common misconception that these are fission based weapons is because of the idiots in hollywood...

Suitcase nukes on the other hand are just very small nuclear weapons, the closest thing to a true suitcase nuke that the government has ever admitted to producing is the W54 warhead which while not small enough to fit in a suitcase, could quite easily fit in a backpack. Such devices are very low yield compared to modern large scale nuclear devices.

Heres a picture of such a weapon inside a projectile attached to a large portable rifle used to fire it:

http://xmb.stuffucanuse.com/xmb/viewthread.php?action=attachment&tid=4518&pid=13152]]>Dec 20th 2007 1:06AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 11:45AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 12:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 12:10PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 12:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 1:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
At least Earth has the ability to start a washing cycle (ice age) if the air gets too hot.]]>Dec 19th 2007 2:22PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
I'm sorry, but it hasn't. I'd rather wait for fusion reactors.]]>Dec 19th 2007 2:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
All the more reason to switch. Burning coal produces more radioactive waste than nuclear.]]>Dec 19th 2007 2:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
Now I don't know how this system works but it sounds less like a traditional fission-->steam-->power system and more like a nuclear battery where the very radiation from the nuclear material generates the power.

And lets get a fact straight. Burning coal dumps hundreds of tons of radium, uranium and a dozen other highly radioactive materials into the atmosphere through the smokes stacks. In fact so much radioactive material comes out of the stacks of coal power plants that worldwide we dump more radiation into the environment every year than was released at Chernobyl. Think about that when you think coal is safer than nuclear power. Coal is probably the WORST energy source (from an environmental perspective) on this planet. Oil isn't far behind as it also contains lots of nasties (although most are removed during refinement), but it's politically a disaster. The cleanest fossil fuel is gas and there isn't enough of it on this planet to meet our needs. Nuclear fission as a baseline combined with a large percentage of renewable sources should be the energy policy of choice for the USA.

And if you want to wait for Fusion you are going to be waiting a LONG time. IF ITER gets built in the next 20 years (which is doubtful given it's history) they MIGHT learn enough about fusion such that in 50 YEARS, after ITER is torn down, or so they MIGHT be able to commercialize fusion. Personally I wouldn't bet money on it. I would wager that fussion won't be even a possibility until the next century (2200AD. ]]>Dec 19th 2007 2:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 4:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 4:21PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 5:01PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 5:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 5:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 11:52AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 11:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 12:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 11:50AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 12:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
LMFAO! Use SOME editorial judgment Engadget! Nothing in this world is 100% "failsafe", and just because Toshiba says their reactor is, doesn't mean you have to trot it out like trained monkeys at a typewriter!]]>Dec 19th 2007 11:51AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
Put down your copy of Frankenstein and pay attention to reality. Have you ever heard of a pebble-bed reactor? Probably not.

Think before you speak.]]>Dec 19th 2007 11:58AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
Let's compare this (or more conventional nuclear options) to our other options.

Coal and Oil: What do I need to say about these? Limited resources, far deadly due to mining operations, heavily toxic to the environment, massive land use in both mining operation, plant and refining space. Gotta go, and will go whether we intervene or not. The stuff has a "sell by date" attached.

Wind and solar: biggest problems are heavy land use and needs to be placed in an appropriate environment. Future tech indicates that these problems might be mitigated but, until they're here, not really an option. Oh, and windmills kill birds.

Hydroelectric (dams): do you really want to plug up more rivers?

Wave action: Will work great right up until some rich bastard on his 100ft yacht or from his coastside mansion pitches a fit about his view. Haven't really studied this as closely though.

Biofuels: Not gonna bother. Just do some research. Bio fuels are a waste of time and nothing more than a subsidy for farmers.

Nuclear: Modern reactors are extremely safe, emit no toxic substances and produce relatively low grade nuclear waste that is stored extremely safely with modern storage tech. I'm not sure I want one right under my apartment but a few miles outside of population would be just fine with me (yes, I would live within 10 miles of a reactor). Of all available options, use the least amount of space for the greatest amount of energy production (by far).

All options have draw backs. For now, until something better comes along, nuclear is the best bet.]]>Dec 19th 2007 12:31PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
Fusion - Comic book material that we've been "20 years" from for the past 60 years.

"A vote against Nuclear Power is a vote for coal." If you think CO2 emissions are bad now, wait until we start burning coal. It'll block out the sun with smog.]]>Dec 19th 2007 1:46PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
68newyorker: The solar arrays on the roof of my workplace seem to be working just fine - in cloudy Seattle. They offset 10-megawatt hours annually of electricity, and have a payback period of 7 years. That is the power of the future.

http://www.jbdg.com/solar.html]]>Dec 20th 2007 10:43AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 11:53AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 12:07PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 12:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/]]>Dec 19th 2007 12:26PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 4:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/The "people" are stupid, lazy, irrational and governed by their herd instinct. Also, "people" have a very short memory span, and ultimately they never learn. And thus, people are gradually manipulated and eventually told what to do. All that remains to do is to pray those that do the telling are not idiots as well.]]>Dec 19th 2007 7:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/
Hey, I have a truck full of TNT. It's perfectly safe!]]>Dec 19th 2007 7:09PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 11:55AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 12:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 11:56AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 2:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/19/toshibas-building-a-micro-nuclear-reactor-for-your-garage/Dec 19th 2007 5:56PM