Sealed "Neighborhood Nuke" Again Delayed
Sony's 1 megawatt thorium Nuclear Battery, dubbed the "neighborhood nuke" by both critics and advocates, hit another stumbling block today, as simulations demanded by both the Japanese Ministry of Energy and the U.S. Department of Energy found rare conditions in which the permanently-sealed units could be breached, potentially spilling radioactive material.
Proponents of the Nuclear Battery concept emphasize its safety, pointing out that the thorium fuel cannot be converted into nuclear weapons and that the waste--which would remained sealed in the battery--has a much shorter half-life than uranium or plutonium. Critics contend that the suggestion that these units would be entirely safe increases the likelihood that the systems would be misused.