Green Daily

Got a spare closet? Or maybe a garage you're not using because you ride your bike everywhere instead of drive? Well, how about putting that space to good use with a Toshiba's new Micro Nuclear reactor? If there's one common dream that all the energy-conscious among us share: it's to sleep a few feet away from your very own high efficiency nuclear device.

These small scale nuclear plants are being marketed to power single apartments buildings or city blocks. They measure 20ft. x 16ft. and put out about 200 kilowatts. Apparently, Toshiba has been testing the technology since 2005 and have supposedly created a completely self sufficient, failsafe system -- something about the word "failsafe" puts me on edge.

For you nerds out there, wondering how this thing will work: instead of traditional control rods, the highly safe Micro Nuclear appliance will utilize reservoirs of liquid lithium6 to regulate the speed of the reaction. The devices are supposed to hit the Japanese market sometime in the new year, meaning the technology will make it to the rest of us in 5-7 years. Who am I kidding? There's no way the DoE will ever allow these things.

[via Engadget]