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Scientists want to turn nuclear waste into new generation batteries. Lifetime? "Near infinity."
British scientists want to recycle radioactive waste from non-functioning nuclear power plants. Using them, they want to produce a new generation of so-called diamond batteries, which would last for thousands of years.
The design and first tests have already been carried out by scientists from the University of Bristol who would like to start production using radioactive waste from nuclear power plants located in the UK. According to "The Independent", work began at the beginning of the year to remove nuclear waste from the Berkeley nuclear power plant in Gloucestershire, south-west England, which was shut down in 1989.
How to turn radioactive waste into an "infinite" battery? C14, or the radioactive isotope carbon-14, is found in graphite blocks which, when used in a nuclear reactor, become highly radioactive. Scientists have used the same method used to produce artificial diamonds - treating carbon atoms with very high pressure until they turn into a regular crystalline network with a regular structure: a diamond.
What about safety and radiation? Scientists are reassured that the resulting final product emits a small amount of beta radiation, which they neutralised by covering the radioactive artificial diamond with a thin layer of plain carbon, which absorbs C-14 radiation. The resulting diamond battery from nuclear waste has a life expectancy of thousands of years.
According to British scientists, we could use a new generation of "near infinity" batteries to power hearing aids, pacemakers and spacecraft. Currently, scientists are testing these batteries in extreme conditions and devices where cell replacement is problematic, such as sensors on volcanic peaks. It is worth noting, however, that medical or extreme applications do not exclude future attempts to use diamond batteries in consumer products, e.g. smartphones.
In the UK alone, there are currently nearly 100,000 tonnes of nuclear waste in the form of graphite blocks, and most nuclear power plants are expected to be decommissioned by 2030. Scientists hope that a pilot plant producing diamond batteries from radioactive waste will be built at the former Berkeley power plant in the next 5 years.
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Scientists want to turn nuclear waste into new generation batteries. Lifetime? "Near infinity."
British scientists want to recycle radioactive waste from non-functioning nuclear power plants. Using them, they want to produce a new generation of so-called diamond batteries, which would last for thousands of years.
The design and first tests have already been carried out by scientists from the University of Bristol who would like to start production using radioactive waste from nuclear power plants located in the UK. According to "The Independent", work began at the beginning of the year to remove nuclear waste from the Berkeley nuclear power plant in Gloucestershire, south-west England, which was shut down in 1989.
How to turn radioactive waste into an "infinite" battery? C14, or the radioactive isotope carbon-14, is found in graphite blocks which, when used in a nuclear reactor, become highly radioactive. Scientists have used the same method used to produce artificial diamonds - treating carbon atoms with very high pressure until they turn into a regular crystalline network with a regular structure: a diamond.
What about safety and radiation? Scientists are reassured that the resulting final product emits a small amount of beta radiation, which they neutralised by covering the radioactive artificial diamond with a thin layer of plain carbon, which absorbs C-14 radiation. The resulting diamond battery from nuclear waste has a life expectancy of thousands of years.
According to British scientists, we could use a new generation of "near infinity" batteries to power hearing aids, pacemakers and spacecraft. Currently, scientists are testing these batteries in extreme conditions and devices where cell replacement is problematic, such as sensors on volcanic peaks. It is worth noting, however, that medical or extreme applications do not exclude future attempts to use diamond batteries in consumer products, e.g. smartphones.
In the UK alone, there are currently nearly 100,000 tonnes of nuclear waste in the form of graphite blocks, and most nuclear power plants are expected to be decommissioned by 2030. Scientists hope that a pilot plant producing diamond batteries from radioactive waste will be built at the former Berkeley power plant in the next 5 years.
