Diamond battery produces energy with nuclear waste

[G.O.G]

A team of scientists from the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom has developed a new technology that uses nuclear waste to generate electricity. The invention consists of a battery made of artificial diamond which can produce electricity from the radioactive waste.

Nuclear activity produces tons of toxic wastes that are characterized by the difficulties involved in its management and treatment. In addition, they include valuable radioactive isotopes that are needed in industry and medicine, or that can be processed to generate more fuel.

For this reason, researchers from around the world are working on finding alternatives to take advantage of radioactive waste, and now these British scientists have come up with a most interesting find.

For this, the team has cultivated an artificial diamond that has the ability to produce a small electric current when placed in a radioactive field. This material has been used to contain radioactive waste inside, and thanks to this it will be possible to produce electricity from nuclear waste in a clean way, while solving the problems of management and treatment of this waste.

Most technologies produce electricity by applying energy to move a magnet through a coil of wire, which generates a current. However, the artificial diamond is capable of producing a charge simply because it is located in the vicinity of a radioactive source.

"There are no moving parts involved, no emissions are generated and no maintenance is required, only the direct generation of electricity," said Tom Scott, one of the team members. "By encapsulating radioactive materials into diamonds we transform the long-term problem of nuclear waste into a nuclear battery and a long-term supply of clean energy."

The initial prototype of the nuclear diamond battery used nickel-63 as a radiation source. They are currently working to optimize efficiency by using carbon-14, a compound that is generated in the graphite blocks used in nuclear power plants.

Despite its low power, the long lifespan of these batteries compared to current technologies could revolutionize the powering of devices over long periods of time. And it is that with carbon-14 it would take 5,730 years to consume 50% of the energy. "We understand that these batteries will be used in situations where it is not feasible to charge or replace conventional batteries," explains Scott.

Potential applications envisaged by its developers include low-power electrical devices requiring long battery life, such as pacemakers, satellites, high-rise aircraft or spacecraft.