# Even Cooler Premise:  Dirt Cheap Nuke Power Plants!

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/even-cooler-premise-dirt-cheap-nuke-power-plants/472000>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [November 10, 2008, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/even-cooler-premise-dirt-cheap-nuke-power-plants/472000 "2008-11-10T06:02:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/even-cooler-premise-dirt-cheap-nuke-power-plants/472000/1 "2008-11-10T06:02:26Z")

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[Tiny nukes to power 20K homes.](http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2008/nov/09/miniature-nuclear-reactors-los-alamos)

> [@](#):
>
> Nuclear power plants smaller than a garden shed and able to power 20,000 homes will be on sale within five years, say scientists at Los Alamos, the US government laboratory which developed the first atomic bomb.
> 
> The miniature reactors will be factory-sealed, contain no weapons-grade material, have no moving parts and will be nearly impossible to steal because they will be encased in concrete and buried underground.
> 
> The US government has licensed the technology to Hyperion, a New Mexico-based company which said last week that it has taken its first firm orders and plans to start mass production within five years. ‘Our goal is to generate electricity for 10 cents a watt anywhere in the world,’ said John Deal, chief executive of Hyperion. ‘They will cost approximately $25m [£13m] each. For a community with 10,000 households, that is a very affordable $250 per home.’

I think **Una** ’s posted before that _conventional_ fossil fuel power plants tend to cost somewhere north of $100 mil. At $25 mil. a pop, even a modest Evil Overlord[sup]TM[/sup] can afford one to power his 1920s Style Death Ray (for at least 20 minutes).

Lemme see, cheap compact nukes? Check. Jetpacks? [Check.](http://cbs13.com/local/CBS.Investigates.Personal.2.858529.html) Flying Cars? [Check.](http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/driving/features/article5106213.ece) Compact death rays? [Check.](http://www.wickedlasers.com/) Voice controlled computers? [Check.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=491088) Food pills? [Check.](http://www.retrofuture.com/spacefood.html) Touchscreen computers? [Check.](http://www.microsoft.com/surface/index.html) Super cool communicators? [Check.](http://www.apple.com/iphone/) Holographic displays? [Check.](http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/31/researchers-develop-a-360-degree-holographic-display/) Space station? [Check.](http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0605/iss2_sts114_big.jpg) Civilian spaceflight? [Check.](http://www.virgingalactic.com/) Black President? [Check.](http://punditkitchen.files.wordpress.com/2008/11/political-pictures-barack-obama-president.jpg) Holy shit, folks! It all checks out! We’re living in the future! 🆒

:::Starts humming _IGY_ by Donald Fagan:::

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**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/even-cooler-premise-dirt-cheap-nuke-power-plants/472000/2 "2008-11-10T06:09:48Z")

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[Thread powered up here.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=492041)

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**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\
**Post date:** [November 10, 2008, 6:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/even-cooler-premise-dirt-cheap-nuke-power-plants/472000/3 "2008-11-10T06:12:07Z")

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Aw, crap.