« BackThe race to commercialise nuclear-powered batterieschemistryworld.comSubmitted by crescit_eundo 4 days ago
  • crescit_eundo 4 days ago

    https://archive.ph/oCbF7

    • moffkalast 26 minutes ago

      I can already hear 50s music playing on a stereo with not enough bass.

      • cyberax an hour ago

        The USSR "commercialized" nuclear-powered batteries to power the navigational beacons in the Arctic. And we're still cleaning up the consequences.

        A pacemaker is better served by a modern rechargeable battery with inductive transcutaneous charging.

        • DeathArrow 3 hours ago

          I wonder how much they cost and how efficient they are compared to other ways to produce electricity.

          • m3kw9 32 minutes ago

            For space travel

            • lnsru 3 hours ago

              Sounds like another recycling nightmare to me. To the endless stream of electronic thrash come radioactive materials polluting everything for hundred years. The use cases do not convince me either. Why eternal battery when cheap electronics will fail earlier anyway.

              • smegger001 2 hours ago

                We already use radioactive materials in our smoke alarms. And they aren't eternal batteries either. To longlived a isotope wont output enough power (long lived means less decay events to release energy in a given amount of time), conversly you probably dont want to energetic an energy source as it will decay to quickly. And the batterys energy output will decrease by 50% every halflife so you either have a device that has more energy than it needs early in its life cycle or it will need the power source replaced before its estimated end of life, or third possibility your device like voyager space probes gracefully looses functionality as it ages to consume less power.

                • throwaway5752 2 hours ago

                  The radioactive material in ionization smoke detectors (Americium 241) is present to create ionizing radiation, not to create power. An alpha particle source is a less discretionary use for radioactive materials than generating electricity to run the devices, which typically run on lithium or alkaline batteries if they aren't hardwired.

                • esskay 2 hours ago

                  Solutions are already being made for spent nuclear fuel, no reason why that wouldn't apply in this scenario. In fact its massive overkill for this particular situation but still an option if its needed:

                  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoy_WJ3mE50