What happened to the proposed self contained nuclear power units?

[Omaha Steve]

The US Government was involved. They could produce power where there is none etc. Buried in cement and walk away.

Anybody know what the status on those is now?

[pscot]

1. There will be pie in the sky

bye and bye.

[kristopher]

2. Why would you want them?

Seriously, why?

If it is because you believe any of the following statements, you should probably reconsider.

A former NRC commissioner compile the list and identified all as myths that this for-profit industry has been spreading to undercut their competition - renewable energy.

1. nuclear power is cheap;
2. learning and new standardized designs solve all past problems;
3. the waste problem is a non-problem, especially if we’d follow the lead of many other nations and “recycle” our spent fuel;
4. climate change makes a renaissance inevitable; 5. there are no other large low-carbon “baseload” alternatives;
6. there’s no particular reason to worry that a rapidly expanding global industry will put nuclear power and weapons technologies in highly unstable nations, often nations with ties to terrorist organizations.

[hunter]

3. There are a few designs out there...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Micro_nuclear_reactor

Maybe you are thinking of this:

http://www.world-nuclear-news.org/NN_Hyperion_demo_for_Savannah_River_1009102.html

Hyperion demo for Savannah River
10 September 2010

The Savannah River site could host the first Hyperion small reactor after a siting deal intended to allow rapid development of the new power generator.

<snip>

Installed underground, the unit would be small - "about the size of a refrigerator" - with a thermal capacity of 75 MW. From this is should be possible to generate 25 MWe, which Hyperion said is "enough to power a US military base, university or government complex."

[buddysmellgood]

4. Never gonna happen. If you started building one today, solar would

still beat it on cost, safety and practicality.