Are you really trying to suppose that Tesla is not only withholding evidence, but they're withholding evidence that would prove their product innocent?
No, I figure that the evidence is either not really decisive(at least not as much as the logs), irrelevant, or not listed because, well, these things get edited for length and article writers tend to drop stuff.
Musk probably figures what he's released is good enough - faulty socket, not faulty Tesla Product.
If Tesla overlooked this requirement and put a 15A plug on their charging cable, then they are liable for any damage caused by their improper cable plug selection and lack of warnings.
You think they're that dumb?
Right from Tesla's site: NEMA 5-15: Standard Outlet 100V/12A 1.4kW 5km/hour NEMA 14-50: RV'S And Campsites*, 240V/40A 10kW 46km/hour NEMA 6-50: Welding Equipment 240V/40A 10kW 46km/hour NEMA 10-30: Older Dryers 240V/24A 5.8kW 27km/hour NEMA 14-30: Newer Dryers 240V/24A 5.8kW 27km/hour
Note that the number after the dash for NEMA designations is the max amps. Generally speaking when somebody says '15A connection' or some such, they're talking about the NEMA 5-15 connector, not the amps the car's pulling.
*Interesting:Hit up a RV park or camp site, set up a tent for the night and have a fully charged Tesla in the morning.
That's in open air [powerstream.com], where each strand of conductor has proper cooling. Wiring for power transmission, you only want to shove around 5.9A through 14AWG.
I think you're getting your definitions mixed up, and 'powerstream' isn't helping. Power transmission is generally in the open air, on power cables. Behind drywall is still 'open air' enough for NEC requirements. Heck, it's still true in shielded conduit. The reason why you can only push 5.9A through a 14 gauge cable in that situation is because it's intended for long distances and you need to limit voltage drop.
Inside a house is between it and chassis wiring, which allows 32A for 14 gauge wire.
Also, the thing to realize with Spoke's chart is that the first number is the breaker, the second is the maximum load you're to plan for the circuit. IE if your proposed circuit is going to use 14A, you don't use 14 gauge wiring, you use 12 gauge, and a 20A breaker rather than a 15. This way you avoid nuisance trips.
Same deal in florida. The sad thing? I've seen more pumps overflow in locations like that because the people are actually more fallible than the little metal latch.
Same deal with the new 'anti-spill' gasoline cans. Many of them are so hard to use and pour irregularly(due to not having a proper vent) that you end up spilling more gasoline, defeating the purpose behind mandating them in the first place.
Plus, again because they suck, I've seen a lot more people using non-gasoline containers to store gasoline. How's that increasing safety?
Fire scene investigators, on the other hand, require an understanding of fire chemistry and fire dynamics, but unfortunately many field investigators do not possess such knowledge. In fact, many field investigators possess no formal education beyond high school. While there exist other forensic disciplines where technical skills learned through apprenticeship may provide adequate training (e.g., fingerprints, firearms identification, and handwriting comparison), it is difficult to argue that individuals who have a limited understanding of the chemistry and physics of fire development can draw reasonable conclusions about fires.
I especially like the ATF Test where they asked a group of 53 investigators to determine what quadrant the fire started in in two test bedrooms they set on fire. Only 3 got it right in each test, and the 3 were different in both tests. Remember that this was the equivalent of a 4 choice multiple-guess test, blind choice/rolling dice would get you higher accuracy.
This becomes really concerning when you have these people testifying that they believe the fire was caused by arson in a capital murder trial. The most famous Texas innocent execution case depends on the fire investigator giving false testimony. It's horrifying in a way when you read that various witnesses changed their view of the suspect from 'loving father' when they believed the fire to be accidental to 'Monster' when they heard the officials thought it was arson.
I can't imagine finding a breaker big enough for that charger is easy.
Why not? Visit your average 'big box' home supply store such as Home Depot, Lowes, or Menards and you'll find the 50A breakers just down the row from the 15 and 20A ones. Past the 30 and 40A ones. Maybe a shelf down (240V vs 120V). The NEMA 14-50 plug for the Tesla should be within the isle somewhere.
It's an electric car - battery, wires from battery to electric motor
Nope, not it. You haven't gotten the power to the wheels yet(the Tesla doesn't use hub motors). So you still have the single-speed transmission, differential, and driveshafts to the individual wheels. All of which, including the shaft in the electric motor, need lubrication and therefore oil.
Changing it out might be a 100k mile job, but it's there. That being said - small engine tools are much more likely to be a source of dirty rags in the garage of somebody who owns a Tesla.
If it's not safe for 20A house circuits (I know of many Aluminum Romex cables that have fried in-wall,) why in the world would it be considered safe for 50A or higher, unless the wire was incredibly thick?
Fried in the wall? Interesting. Mostly it happens at the connection points - outlets, switches. The problem with Aluminum is that it isn't as conductive as copper so you have to use heavier cable, it's not as ductile(more prone to cracking), and actually expands more than copper. It is cheaper though, even at said heavier gauge. The larger the gauge though, the less problem this presents.
At small gauges connectors are normally simply held in with a set screw. What happens is that over time the aluminum expands and contracts as the load causes the wires to heat and cool, eventually working themselves out.
With circuits about 50A though, you shift from solid wire to stranded, connections can get more fancy(involving springs and actual clamps), connection pressure becomes higher, and the cycle rate drops.
Brand-new panel, pure copper buses, including the Main. GE 150A panel, GE 40A sub.
Not surprising in that case, seeing as how he said that the circuits are limited to 'above 50 amp'. so a 40A sub would need to be copper.
That would not pass an inspection if it's labeled as such - which means it wasn't properly inspected in the first place and the person doing it was an idiot.
Would not surprise me if the fire in this case was caused by an electrician not doing a proper job, backed up by either an inspector not doing his or not being inspected at all.
You have to remember that the news likes to report 'news', IE unusual events. If car fires are frequent enough to not be news, but aren't so high as to trigger a 'trend' type news program, then you don't see them.
Tesla vehicles are distinctive, new, unusual, and thus more newsworthy. We hear pretty much every event with one.
Let's check: Nissan Leaf: 34 kwh per 100 miles per the EPA. Tesla Model S:: 38 kwh per 100 miles. 12% Difference. Let's recheck:
Leaf: 109 miles NEDC range, 24 kwh battery..22 kwh per mile Model S: 310 NEDC, 85 kwh; 233 for the 60 kwh one..27 kwhm,.26 kwhm (lighter battery = more efficient). 18-23% higher by NEDC measurements. If the Leaf is 40mpg, the Model S is 34 mpg. Still not bad when you figure the range advantage.
No I am not joking. Given China's history are abusing and murdering it's own citizens, this is a likely suspect.
You're neglecting KISS, Occam's Razor, not attributing malice to something that can be explained by general incompetence, etc...
Basically I see Chinese officials/operators discharging raw sewage simply because it's easier/cheaper as a far more believable explanation than trying to spread disease as a form of population control. Why? 1. There are cheaper ways 2. This wouldn't be discriminatory enough. Remember that the powerful rich people can get sick as well, and spreading resistance to the 'best', most expensive medicine isn't in their interests because they want to live long lives as well. They can't count on not being infected because servents and such.
Basically, I see this as easily explainable via incompetence, no malice required.
Basically what the AC said. Bacteria don't have sexes, but they still swap genes via various ways, and are actually able to incorporate genes found in the environment. Lateral gene transfer is one of those 'oh wow' things when you get into what was at least in my time, college level biology.
Ever play bioshock and remember how you'd get powers via drinking or shooting yourself up with something? That's sort of what bacteria do in real life. The bacteria 'consumes' the genetic material and incorporates it in with it's own.
The soaps are not and typically cause more harm than good
Actually they do tend to do what they say they do, but it's despite the antibiotic, not because of it. It's still soap, a very good sanitizer on it's own.
I just remember looking for hand soap without it and not being able to find any. It was sad.
Oh yeah, and another thing - Smaller reactors are faster to build and emplace than the large ones. NIMBYs tying up a small generator installation are costing less money(cost of capital, time) than tying up a big reactor. Not to mention that if you go to install ~25 of these in different locations the BANANAs are going to go nuts and have to split their attention.
Once you have one reactor in place it's known that it's easier to get another. So you have that.
They want to over-build the water pool infrastructure for the first unit, then encourage the purchase of additional drop-in 45MW 'thermos bottles' to ramp up the output. With each additional unit the safety margin becomes smaller, and presumably they have a threshold at which they might refuse to add another. If I was convinced this idea would scale globally I might be concerned.
It's failure mechanics. You need X water available to cool a failed reactor. Trick is, if you have, say 4 reactors, what are the odds that all 4 will fail catastrophically at the same time? So the formula tends towards 'Ax +y', where A is the number of reactors, x is gallons per reactor, and Y is the emergency threshold. You could have a situation where with 4 reactors 2 could fail catastrophically and you'd still have enough cooling mass.
But I'm not concerned. "All this for 45 megawatts??" and probably thermal megawatts to boot.
As for the scaling, I live in Alaska where we have a coal cogeneration plant - I think it'd be nice and pollution limiting if it was nuclear, or at least nuclear supplemented.
As for the stringing more wire - keep in mind my idea of using the waste heat profitably. This isn't currently done much, but with smaller plants it'd be more feasible. On the scaling down side - remember how I compared full size plants to car engines and these small ones to lawnmower ones? The smaller ones are MUCH simpler.
End of easy choices - yep. Also perhaps the end of NIMBY and BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything).
Turbine design would be interesting - do you build a turbine for max anticipated load or for installed laid and then upgrade?
I think that would depend on what your intentions are. If you're only installing 1, then you install a max load turbine right off the bat. If you're installing 6 with plans to expand to 10, then you might want to install a bigger turbine.
For others - Remember, the turbine runs off steam, which the reactor generates. You can have multiple generators running 1 turbine in this case.
On the land lines - often they'll have a metal thread so that they can be detected by metal detectors in an attempt to make them easier to locate and prevent cuts. It'd be a steel wire though, not very valuable.
Citation on the 'draconian new laws' affecting home prices? Your two links don't mention any new laws, the thief's family was rather thoroughly smacked down by the court. Indeed, the closest thing to a dissenting judge was one that agreed with it, but had a 'you were thinking too hard' comment that because the dude was committing a felony(the damage to the transformer raised it to that point), any injuries were on HIS head. The others were saying that a reasonable person wouldn't have broken into the room, lifted a near 100 pound cover, drained a transformer, etc...
Nuclear Grade Steel is to Steel as Superman is to Man.
Not really. It's good stuff, yes, but mostly it's about using alloys that stand up to radiation better. It's like modern vs ancient Roman concrete - our stuff is stronger, but actually less weather resistant.
So there's no real reason to get a 'nuclear grade steel' knife, because it's about the metal's abilities in context with it's use.
I am completely in favor of micro reactors, but honestly believe that micro-solutions should be scaled-down versions of proven and viable mega-solutions, and not pursued with any vigor until the mega-problem is solved.
That's the thing, especially in nuclear power things don't necessarily scale up or down well at all. Consider how easily we can 'tune' a nuclear weapon more than an order of magnitude in detonation size merely by controlling the timing of the shaping explosions, minute adjustments in the alignment of the various pieces of the core.
Take your standard 1 GW 'mega' reactor, it's 22 times the size of the proposed one, which is actually a lot bigger than the Kilowatt/signel digit micro reactors I've read about. To compare it to something that's probably closer to home, that's about the same difference in power between a car and a push-type lawnmower. To expand: It's the difference between an engine that needs an elaborate water-cooling solution and one that is perfectly fine being air cooled.
I like the idea of micro-reactors as well, though I think that chaining them up isn't the greatest idea. If you're going to make them that small, best to distribute them so they're also useful for things like providing heating to facilities and industrial processes.
All this for 45 megawatts?? And in the case of containment failure you have contaminated five million gallons of water.
On the scale of things, the thing to realize is that the 7.5 swimming pools isn't actually all that much, and the plant is small enough that you don't need pumps/elaborate cooling systems to prevent a meltdown. As for the contamination - water is actually 'pretty hard' to make radioactive, one of the reasons we like using it in reactors. Plus, what's the most likely cause of a containment failure? The biggest cause I can think of would be a meltdown, which is a lot harder the smaller your power system - it's a surface area vs internal thing, same with animals. Elephants are nearly hairless and have huge ears to help dissipate heat because they're so large, while meerkats have to have fur and huddle at night to stay warm.
I remain convinced that lead-acid is fine with trickle-discharge. The trick is that car(and motorcycle) batteries are typically optimized for burst power - utilizing lots of thin plates vs thick ones combine with that they really like being fully charged and that a steady trickle current can add up to lots of energy drain before you realize it.
Use 600 watts for 5 seconds to start your vehicle? That's not even the energy used by a 1 watt drain for an hour. As such a trickle current discharge will drain a battery relatively quickly, and unless you get deep-cycle batteries the wear starts racking up on them - but that's more from them being discharged.
And yes, I did mention that they've been increasing the size of batteries due to the extra demand, didn't I?
I wouldn't be surprised if the price of LiIon keeps dropping that we won't end up seeing LiIon starting batteries.
Slashdot Mirror
Are you really trying to suppose that Tesla is not only withholding evidence, but they're withholding evidence that would prove their product innocent?
No, I figure that the evidence is either not really decisive(at least not as much as the logs), irrelevant, or not listed because, well, these things get edited for length and article writers tend to drop stuff.
Musk probably figures what he's released is good enough - faulty socket, not faulty Tesla Product.
If Tesla overlooked this requirement and put a 15A plug on their charging cable, then they are liable for any damage caused by their improper cable plug selection and lack of warnings.
You think they're that dumb?
Right from Tesla's site:
NEMA 5-15: Standard Outlet 100V/12A 1.4kW 5km/hour
NEMA 14-50: RV'S And Campsites*, 240V/40A 10kW 46km/hour
NEMA 6-50: Welding Equipment 240V/40A 10kW 46km/hour
NEMA 10-30: Older Dryers 240V/24A 5.8kW 27km/hour
NEMA 14-30: Newer Dryers 240V/24A 5.8kW 27km/hour
Note that the number after the dash for NEMA designations is the max amps. Generally speaking when somebody says '15A connection' or some such, they're talking about the NEMA 5-15 connector, not the amps the car's pulling.
*Interesting:Hit up a RV park or camp site, set up a tent for the night and have a fully charged Tesla in the morning.
12AWG is not always connected to a 15 amp breaker, however. In my house, some idiot used 14AWG wiring for several "20 amp" circuits.
As you say, idiot, improper installation, all that stuff.
That's in open air [powerstream.com], where each strand of conductor has proper cooling. Wiring for power transmission, you only want to shove around 5.9A through 14AWG.
I think you're getting your definitions mixed up, and 'powerstream' isn't helping. Power transmission is generally in the open air, on power cables. Behind drywall is still 'open air' enough for NEC requirements. Heck, it's still true in shielded conduit. The reason why you can only push 5.9A through a 14 gauge cable in that situation is because it's intended for long distances and you need to limit voltage drop.
Inside a house is between it and chassis wiring, which allows 32A for 14 gauge wire.
Also, the thing to realize with Spoke's chart is that the first number is the breaker, the second is the maximum load you're to plan for the circuit. IE if your proposed circuit is going to use 14A, you don't use 14 gauge wiring, you use 12 gauge, and a 20A breaker rather than a 15. This way you avoid nuisance trips.
Same deal in florida. The sad thing? I've seen more pumps overflow in locations like that because the people are actually more fallible than the little metal latch.
Same deal with the new 'anti-spill' gasoline cans. Many of them are so hard to use and pour irregularly(due to not having a proper vent) that you end up spilling more gasoline, defeating the purpose behind mandating them in the first place.
Plus, again because they suck, I've seen a lot more people using non-gasoline containers to store gasoline. How's that increasing safety?
You mean the part that says this?
Fire scene investigators, on the other hand, require an understanding of fire chemistry and fire dynamics, but unfortunately many field investigators do not possess such knowledge. In fact, many field investigators possess no formal education beyond high school. While there exist other forensic disciplines where technical skills learned through apprenticeship may provide adequate training (e.g., fingerprints, firearms identification, and handwriting comparison), it is difficult to argue that individuals who have a limited understanding of the chemistry and physics of fire development can draw reasonable conclusions about fires.
I especially like the ATF Test where they asked a group of 53 investigators to determine what quadrant the fire started in in two test bedrooms they set on fire. Only 3 got it right in each test, and the 3 were different in both tests. Remember that this was the equivalent of a 4 choice multiple-guess test, blind choice/rolling dice would get you higher accuracy.
This becomes really concerning when you have these people testifying that they believe the fire was caused by arson in a capital murder trial. The most famous Texas innocent execution case depends on the fire investigator giving false testimony. It's horrifying in a way when you read that various witnesses changed their view of the suspect from 'loving father' when they believed the fire to be accidental to 'Monster' when they heard the officials thought it was arson.
That would be a piece of evidence, not the whole body of it.
How do we know that Musk(and his failure-analysis team) didn't review more evidence than just the logs?
I can't imagine finding a breaker big enough for that charger is easy.
Why not? Visit your average 'big box' home supply store such as Home Depot, Lowes, or Menards and you'll find the 50A breakers just down the row from the 15 and 20A ones. Past the 30 and 40A ones. Maybe a shelf down (240V vs 120V). The NEMA 14-50 plug for the Tesla should be within the isle somewhere.
When was the last time you changed the oil in your ceiling fan? Your blender? CD player?
What's the expected life and duty cycle of those devices? Heck, power level makes a difference. Most of the fans I remember are oil filled.
but I don't believe it has a transmission.
It does have a very simple one: 1-speed fixed gear (9.73:1)
Mostly because the Roadster that the S shares many aspects with kept blowing up the 2 speed they tried to have in there.
It's an electric car - battery, wires from battery to electric motor
Nope, not it. You haven't gotten the power to the wheels yet(the Tesla doesn't use hub motors). So you still have the single-speed transmission, differential, and driveshafts to the individual wheels. All of which, including the shaft in the electric motor, need lubrication and therefore oil.
Changing it out might be a 100k mile job, but it's there. That being said - small engine tools are much more likely to be a source of dirty rags in the garage of somebody who owns a Tesla.
Sure, why not?.
*snerk*. It's still an outlet. /You didn't specify NEMA-5
If it's not safe for 20A house circuits (I know of many Aluminum Romex cables that have fried in-wall,) why in the world would it be considered safe for 50A or higher, unless the wire was incredibly thick?
Fried in the wall? Interesting. Mostly it happens at the connection points - outlets, switches. The problem with Aluminum is that it isn't as conductive as copper so you have to use heavier cable, it's not as ductile(more prone to cracking), and actually expands more than copper. It is cheaper though, even at said heavier gauge. The larger the gauge though, the less problem this presents.
At small gauges connectors are normally simply held in with a set screw. What happens is that over time the aluminum expands and contracts as the load causes the wires to heat and cool, eventually working themselves out.
With circuits about 50A though, you shift from solid wire to stranded, connections can get more fancy(involving springs and actual clamps), connection pressure becomes higher, and the cycle rate drops.
Brand-new panel, pure copper buses, including the Main. GE 150A panel, GE 40A sub.
Not surprising in that case, seeing as how he said that the circuits are limited to 'above 50 amp'. so a 40A sub would need to be copper.
That would not pass an inspection if it's labeled as such - which means it wasn't properly inspected in the first place and the person doing it was an idiot.
Would not surprise me if the fire in this case was caused by an electrician not doing a proper job, backed up by either an inspector not doing his or not being inspected at all.
You have to remember that the news likes to report 'news', IE unusual events. If car fires are frequent enough to not be news, but aren't so high as to trigger a 'trend' type news program, then you don't see them.
Tesla vehicles are distinctive, new, unusual, and thus more newsworthy. We hear pretty much every event with one.
A Tesla will get a lot worse.
Let's check:
Nissan Leaf: 34 kwh per 100 miles per the EPA.
Tesla Model S:: 38 kwh per 100 miles.
12% Difference. Let's recheck:
Leaf: 109 miles NEDC range, 24 kwh battery. .22 kwh per mile .27 kwhm, .26 kwhm (lighter battery = more efficient).
Model S: 310 NEDC, 85 kwh; 233 for the 60 kwh one.
18-23% higher by NEDC measurements.
If the Leaf is 40mpg, the Model S is 34 mpg. Still not bad when you figure the range advantage.
No I am not joking. Given China's history are abusing and murdering it's own citizens, this is a likely suspect.
You're neglecting KISS, Occam's Razor, not attributing malice to something that can be explained by general incompetence, etc...
Basically I see Chinese officials/operators discharging raw sewage simply because it's easier/cheaper as a far more believable explanation than trying to spread disease as a form of population control. Why?
1. There are cheaper ways
2. This wouldn't be discriminatory enough. Remember that the powerful rich people can get sick as well, and spreading resistance to the 'best', most expensive medicine isn't in their interests because they want to live long lives as well. They can't count on not being infected because servents and such.
Basically, I see this as easily explainable via incompetence, no malice required.
Basically what the AC said. Bacteria don't have sexes, but they still swap genes via various ways, and are actually able to incorporate genes found in the environment. Lateral gene transfer is one of those 'oh wow' things when you get into what was at least in my time, college level biology.
Ever play bioshock and remember how you'd get powers via drinking or shooting yourself up with something? That's sort of what bacteria do in real life. The bacteria 'consumes' the genetic material and incorporates it in with it's own.
The soaps are not and typically cause more harm than good
Actually they do tend to do what they say they do, but it's despite the antibiotic, not because of it. It's still soap, a very good sanitizer on it's own.
I just remember looking for hand soap without it and not being able to find any. It was sad.
Oh yeah, and another thing -
Smaller reactors are faster to build and emplace than the large ones. NIMBYs tying up a small generator installation are costing less money(cost of capital, time) than tying up a big reactor. Not to mention that if you go to install ~25 of these in different locations the BANANAs are going to go nuts and have to split their attention.
Once you have one reactor in place it's known that it's easier to get another. So you have that.
They want to over-build the water pool infrastructure for the first unit, then encourage the purchase of additional drop-in 45MW 'thermos bottles' to ramp up the output. With each additional unit the safety margin becomes smaller, and presumably they have a threshold at which they might refuse to add another. If I was convinced this idea would scale globally I might be concerned.
It's failure mechanics. You need X water available to cool a failed reactor. Trick is, if you have, say 4 reactors, what are the odds that all 4 will fail catastrophically at the same time? So the formula tends towards 'Ax +y', where A is the number of reactors, x is gallons per reactor, and Y is the emergency threshold. You could have a situation where with 4 reactors 2 could fail catastrophically and you'd still have enough cooling mass.
But I'm not concerned. "All this for 45 megawatts??" and probably thermal megawatts to boot.
Nope, its 45MWe
As for the scaling, I live in Alaska where we have a coal cogeneration plant - I think it'd be nice and pollution limiting if it was nuclear, or at least nuclear supplemented.
As for the stringing more wire - keep in mind my idea of using the waste heat profitably. This isn't currently done much, but with smaller plants it'd be more feasible. On the scaling down side - remember how I compared full size plants to car engines and these small ones to lawnmower ones? The smaller ones are MUCH simpler.
End of easy choices - yep. Also perhaps the end of NIMBY and BANANA (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anything).
Turbine design would be interesting - do you build a turbine for max anticipated load or for installed laid and then upgrade?
I think that would depend on what your intentions are. If you're only installing 1, then you install a max load turbine right off the bat. If you're installing 6 with plans to expand to 10, then you might want to install a bigger turbine.
For others - Remember, the turbine runs off steam, which the reactor generates. You can have multiple generators running 1 turbine in this case.
On the land lines - often they'll have a metal thread so that they can be detected by metal detectors in an attempt to make them easier to locate and prevent cuts. It'd be a steel wire though, not very valuable.
Citation on the 'draconian new laws' affecting home prices? Your two links don't mention any new laws, the thief's family was rather thoroughly smacked down by the court. Indeed, the closest thing to a dissenting judge was one that agreed with it, but had a 'you were thinking too hard' comment that because the dude was committing a felony(the damage to the transformer raised it to that point), any injuries were on HIS head. The others were saying that a reasonable person wouldn't have broken into the room, lifted a near 100 pound cover, drained a transformer, etc...
Nuclear Grade Steel is to Steel as Superman is to Man.
Not really. It's good stuff, yes, but mostly it's about using alloys that stand up to radiation better. It's like modern vs ancient Roman concrete - our stuff is stronger, but actually less weather resistant.
So there's no real reason to get a 'nuclear grade steel' knife, because it's about the metal's abilities in context with it's use.
I am completely in favor of micro reactors, but honestly believe that micro-solutions should be scaled-down versions of proven and viable mega-solutions, and not pursued with any vigor until the mega-problem is solved.
That's the thing, especially in nuclear power things don't necessarily scale up or down well at all. Consider how easily we can 'tune' a nuclear weapon more than an order of magnitude in detonation size merely by controlling the timing of the shaping explosions, minute adjustments in the alignment of the various pieces of the core.
Take your standard 1 GW 'mega' reactor, it's 22 times the size of the proposed one, which is actually a lot bigger than the Kilowatt/signel digit micro reactors I've read about. To compare it to something that's probably closer to home, that's about the same difference in power between a car and a push-type lawnmower. To expand: It's the difference between an engine that needs an elaborate water-cooling solution and one that is perfectly fine being air cooled.
I like the idea of micro-reactors as well, though I think that chaining them up isn't the greatest idea. If you're going to make them that small, best to distribute them so they're also useful for things like providing heating to facilities and industrial processes.
All this for 45 megawatts?? And in the case of containment failure you have contaminated five million gallons of water.
On the scale of things, the thing to realize is that the 7.5 swimming pools isn't actually all that much, and the plant is small enough that you don't need pumps/elaborate cooling systems to prevent a meltdown. As for the contamination - water is actually 'pretty hard' to make radioactive, one of the reasons we like using it in reactors. Plus, what's the most likely cause of a containment failure? The biggest cause I can think of would be a meltdown, which is a lot harder the smaller your power system - it's a surface area vs internal thing, same with animals. Elephants are nearly hairless and have huge ears to help dissipate heat because they're so large, while meerkats have to have fur and huddle at night to stay warm.
I remain convinced that lead-acid is fine with trickle-discharge. The trick is that car(and motorcycle) batteries are typically optimized for burst power - utilizing lots of thin plates vs thick ones combine with that they really like being fully charged and that a steady trickle current can add up to lots of energy drain before you realize it.
Use 600 watts for 5 seconds to start your vehicle? That's not even the energy used by a 1 watt drain for an hour. As such a trickle current discharge will drain a battery relatively quickly, and unless you get deep-cycle batteries the wear starts racking up on them - but that's more from them being discharged.
And yes, I did mention that they've been increasing the size of batteries due to the extra demand, didn't I?
I wouldn't be surprised if the price of LiIon keeps dropping that we won't end up seeing LiIon starting batteries.