Why purchase a generator for your compound when you could power your home or apartment building with a mini-nuclear reactor, built by a reliable, brand name company? Why indeed. Toshiba has designed what it calls a micro nuclear reactor. At 20 feet by 6 feet, it’s 100 times smaller than your normal, power plant sized variety. According to Next Energy News, “The 200 kilowatt Toshiba designed reactor is engineered to be fail-safe and totally automatic and will not overheat … The whole process is self sustaining and can last for up to 40 years, producing electricity for only 5 cents per kilowatt hour.”

Well, there you are. I’m sure nothing could ever go wrong with these, and nobody would ever try to sabotage them, creating bite-sized meltdowns.

The company plans to install the first mini-reactor in Japan next year. If all goes well and regulations will allow it, the reactors will be available in the United States in 2009.

from dvice