Yay for Toshiba - household mini reactors

[petek]

It's about time I'd say. While this one is still a little on the big side most certainly they'll have it down to the size of a breadbox in short order

http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Toshiba's_Home_Nuclear_Fusion_Reactor

 

[mielabor]

Is this serious? I didn't know that there were already nuclear fusion reactors in operation and nuclear fusion reactors for domestic use seem still far away if ever possible.

 

[jasonl]

Good! If they start building small single units for houses, I'll get one. Truth be known, the electric companies will probably lease the things out and make you pay dearly for it.

 

[rolls_rapide]

Fusion reactors...

...currently are not viable for domestic use. They require a magnetic containment vessel to keep the hot plasma from destroying the actual reactor.

Only recently has there been international agreement on building a prototype fusion reactor. This is supposed to built in France, though Japan was also touted. This will be massive, be untried on this scale, and there will be a lot of unknown variables.

I honestly cannot see a domestic model being available any time soon. Wishful thinking maybe?

The article is probably a 'concept', in the style of the 'Rockpool' carbon dioxide dishwasher.

 

[whirlcool]

Homeland Security will freak out over this. Nuclear devices in the U.S.? My goodness! They will be marketed to terrorists and we can't have that!

 

[frigilux]

Aunt Augusta: Well! It's all fine and good until some lunk decides to dig near it and blows the entire neighborhood to smithereens!

Algernon: I only hope I'm wearing something suitable when it happens. I so hate to be underdressed.

And.....scene.

 

[maytagbear]

If anyone can do this........

I bet Toshiba can!

(I know it's hardly the same thing, but I am I>loving</i> my Toshiba Satellite computer.)

It raises all sorts of interesting questions, though.... like how local local power should be, what to do with the spent fuel.....

I believe that nuclear power for generating electricity will be part of the equation in the near future, but how big a part remains to be seen. I'd still like more wind, solar, trash fired electricity.

Lawrence/Maytagbear

 

[andrewinorlando]

....and Toshiba has done it....they will be in service in Japan in 2008. The Japanese are far more progressive than we are in developing alternative energy sources because they have to be. Nothing like being self-sufficient! It remains to be seen how quickly they make their way here.

 

[sudsmaster]

Toshiba has announced plans to build a factory in America to manufacture these mini fusion reactors. The plan is to take over the former Maytag plant in Ohio, pending one change that the local authorities must approve first: changing the name of the town from Newton to Neutron.

Word has it that the initial Neutron reactors will not have windows and will be breeding grounds for mold and bad odors, as well as being unreliable and prone to self-destruction. However, Toshiba promises that by the time Whirlpool buys the entire operation, the reactors will break even.

 

[whirlcool]

While we think of Toshiba as being a consumer goods company, they actually are huge in the power industry. They even have a Toshiba Power Company office here in Houston.

 

[beadsobleach]

Top O' the Reactor

Don't think I would want a first floor apartment in that building!

 

[sudsmaster]

Home nuke power may never happen, but there is another promising way to distribute energy more efficiently than at present.

A fuel cell that runs off methane (natural gas) or propane could be used with relatively high efficiency to produce electricity at the residence. This would eliminate the losses involved with electric transmission - as gas requires very little energy, by comparison, to be sent through pipes. In addition, fuel cells are much more efficient at turning carbon-hrydogen molecules into electricity than other, mechanical means. There's even been speculation that a fuel-cell automobile could be hooked up to the home to provide power - although that seems a bit backwards to me. Use the home to produce electricity to recharge the car's batteries, instead.

 

[tolivac]

Very interesting-this 10MW unit could power the transmitter site I work at.Has promise.

 

[toggleswitch]

~There's even been speculation that a fuel-cell automobile could be hooked up to the home to provide power - although that seems a bit backwards to me.

Methinks the ability to recover the waste heat of a car engine that is used to generate a home's power is what the appeal is!

 

[sudsmaster]

waste heat of a car engine

A car that runs on a fuel cell would generate little heat.