Mini nuclear power plants under development as a source of clean electricity for the United States -- and for deployment in space -- would be smaller than standard shipping containers. But the amount of electricity a single unit generates, as sub-atomic neutrons inside bombard uranium rods, could sustain up to 10,000 people -- without emitting the heat-trapping gases that accelerate climate change. Nuclear engineers at the Colorado School of Mines and the University of Colorado working this summer at federal facilities say they're racing to be able to deploy this mini plants as soon as possible.