I do remember something similar, but back from the union.
A Teknika Molodezi (a popular science journal from USSR) from around late fifties told that... "by the year 2000, every soviet housewife would have a nuclear reactor"
Remember, that was in times when electricity linkup for a household was still a relative luxury. Even in Moscow back then, it was very normal to live in an apartment with very poor, irregular electricity supply, or none at all.
I do vividly remember pictures of possible applications, like powering a fridge, providing heat, hot water, or steam for house cleaning... or cooking.
Only at the very end, there was a bit of scepticism "it now appears that advances in metallurgy open a clear way to making a reactor as small as a stove, but material science has not yet found a way to contain radiation that is not as bulky, heavy and expensive as lead or uranium"
I think the joke is that there were no Soviet housewives in the year 2000 anymore, so the statement "all Soviet housewives now have a nuclear reactor in their home" is correct.
In Asimov's Foundation series you see similar references to housewives having "nuclear knives" for slicing meat like in a deli, as well as washing machines I think
A Teknika Molodezi (a popular science journal from USSR) from around late fifties told that... "by the year 2000, every soviet housewife would have a nuclear reactor"
Remember, that was in times when electricity linkup for a household was still a relative luxury. Even in Moscow back then, it was very normal to live in an apartment with very poor, irregular electricity supply, or none at all.
I do vividly remember pictures of possible applications, like powering a fridge, providing heat, hot water, or steam for house cleaning... or cooking.
Only at the very end, there was a bit of scepticism "it now appears that advances in metallurgy open a clear way to making a reactor as small as a stove, but material science has not yet found a way to contain radiation that is not as bulky, heavy and expensive as lead or uranium"