There’s been a lot of buzz around the web lately about a nuclear reactor being developed by Toshiba for residential use. That’s right, a nuclear reactor of your very own. It was said to measure 20ft. x 16ft. and generate about 200 kilowatts – enough to power an apartment building.

Powered by liquid lithium-6 reservoirs which would last up to 40 years, supposedly it would be totally safe, could basically run unattended and would crank out electricity for around 5 cents per kilowatt hour.

It’s been interesting reading the reaction to the imminent rollout of the “Toshiba’s Micro Nuclear Reactor”. This has been the image bandied around depicting the system:

But it seems that’s a picture of a Toshiba 10MW “4S” reactor system – 10 megawatts; it’s 72 × 52.5 x 36 ft in size and it will need to be buried 100 feet underground. It’s still small I guess, but not something you could stick in your back yard :)

On a few other posts I’ve seen, commenters have said they contacted Toshiba who confirmed the  Micro Nuclear Reactor is indeed a hoax. Still, it raised a lot of interest in the concept and likely the PR won’t hurt Toshiba any; unless you’re not a fan of nuclear power – and I guess I belong to that club. I’ve read of many “greenies” now accepting nuclear power as a viable alternative; but the concept just bugs me – maybe I’m just not well educated enough in the issue.

But let’s just say such a thing as the Micro Nuclear Reactor became a reality – and I guess it could some day – would you be lining up to buy one or would you be happy to have one in your general vicinity?