Have you heard of the people making their own nuclear reactors in their garages? It can be done for around $2k, but they aren't strong enough to make more energy than they consume yet. I'm looking at the idea and may try to do one myself. They're made mostly out of stainless, which is my favorite metal to weld. They run off of deuterium, a radioactive hydrogen isotope that can surprisingly be bought somehow.
I wonder how big a reactor has to be before the government gets mad?