A team of scientists at Bristol University in South West England have developed a technology that uses radioactive waste to create a nuclear powered battery encased in man-made diamond with a potential lifespan of thousands of years.
The method developed was presented last week at the Cabot Institute’s annual lecture - ‘Ideas to change the world’.
Unlike the majority of electricity-generation technologies, which use energy to move a magnet through a coil of wire to generate a current, the researchers said that the man-made diamond is able to produce a charge simply by being placed in close proximity to a radioactive source.
“There are no moving parts involved, no emissions generated and no maintenance required, just direct electricity generation,” explained Tom Scott, Professor in Materials in the University’s Interface Analysis Centre and a member of the Cabot Institute. “By encapsulating radioactive material inside diamonds, we turn a long-term problem of nuclear waste into a nuclear-powered battery and a long-term supply of clean energy.”
The team have demonstrated a prototype ‘diamond battery’ using Nickel-63 as the radiation source. However, they said that they are now working to significantly improve efficiency by utilising carbon-14, a radioactive version of carbon, which is generated in graphite blocks used to moderate the reaction in nuclear power plants.
The research was also said to have shown that the radioactive carbon-14 is concentrated at the surface of these blocks, making it possible to process it to remove the majority of the radioactive material. The extracted carbon-14 is then incorporated into a diamond to produce a nuclear-powered battery.
Reducing Radioactivity of Nuclear Waste
According to the scientists the UK currently holds almost 95,000 tonnes of graphite blocks and by extracting carbon-14 from them, their radioactivity decreases, reducing the cost and challenge of safely storing this nuclear waste.
“Carbon-14 was chosen as a source material because it emits a short-range radiation, which is quickly absorbed by any solid material,” Dr Neil Fox from the School of Chemistry explained. “This would make it dangerous to ingest or touch with your naked skin, but safely held within diamond, no short-range radiation can escape. In fact, diamond is the hardest substance known to man, there is literally nothing we could use that could offer more protection.”
While the researchers acknowledge the low-power relative to current battery technologies, they said that the life-time of these diamond batteries could revolutionise the powering of devices over long timescales.
The actual amount of carbon-14 in each battery has yet to be decided but one battery, containing 1g of carbon-14, would deliver 15 Joules per day. This is less than an AA battery.
However, standard alkaline AA batteries are designed for short timeframe discharge: one battery weighing about 20g has an energy storage rating of 700J/g. If operated continuously, this would run out in 24 hours. Using carbon-14 the battery would take 5730 years to reach 50% power, which is about as long as human civilization has existed.
“We envision these batteries to be used in situations where it is not feasible to charge or replace conventional batteries,” said Professor Scott. “Obvious applications would be in low-power electrical devices where long life of the energy source is needed, such as pacemakers, satellites, high-altitude drones or even spacecraft.
“There are so many possible uses that we’re asking the public to come up with suggestions of how they would utilise this technology by using #diamondbattery,” he concluded.
A video looking at the technology can be viewed below
https://youtu.be/b6ME88nMnYE
Read More
Report: Managing Global Nuclear Waste Could be Highly Profitable for South Australia
A nuclear waste disposal facility in the South Australian outback would be viable and highly profitable, according to a new report by the Nuclear Fuel Cycle Royal Commission.
DOE Settles Nuclear Waste Incident Claims New Mexico Environment Department
Two agreements to resolve claims against the Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractors related to the February 2014 incidents at the Waste Isolation Pilot Plant (WIPP) in Carlsbad and the associated activities at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL) by The New Mexico Environment Department, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and its contractors signed
EU Threatens France with Legal Action over Nuclear Waste
The European Commission has requested France to fully transpose the Radioactive Waste Directive as part of its monthly package of infringement decisions, where the it pursues legal action against Member States for failing to comply with their obligations under EU law.
