Follow-Up #2: Power

We live in a disposable society, thanks to American ingenuity and Asian efficiency of production.

Even with nuclear reactors apparently.

Toshiba has recently announced the "4S" micro reactor which you "set and forget" literally. They seal them at the factory. You can put them wherever you want: in a building, underground, in space. Assuming no water gets into their liquid sodium (eek .... ka-BOOOM?), they merrily run for a few decades. When they peter out, you simply throw them away.

Check it out:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toshiba_4S
http://peswiki.com/index.php/Directory:Toshiba
http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/nuclear/page/analysis/nucenviss2.html
http://www.atomicinsights.com/AI_03-20-05print.html

Not so fast, right? They'd be full of a thousand years of radioactive waste. My favorite solution to that one has always been to blast the garbage off to the sun. It's an expert at dealing with radioactive waste - it hosts countless nuclear reactions every day.