10 ms·
Nuclear battery produces power for 50 years without needing to charge
- johndunne 3y agoSounds promising. I'll wait till other people have been using them a while though ;-). And maybe I'm becoming cynical in my old age but when I hear the inventor of an atomic battery say "it is absolutely safe", I ponder, "how well do you know your battery".
- iamflimflam1 3y agoWe used to have nuclear powered pacemakers. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_battery https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomic_battery
- zakary 3y agoInterestingly, inside your body (in the form of a pacemaker battery) was and is the only legal way to possess plutonium as an individual (in the US) As soon as you take it out of your body, or if you die, then it immediately becomes illegal to possess again.
- breischl 3y ago> or if you die, then it immediately becomes illegal to possess again. Arrest that corpse for possession of radioactive material! :P
- lagniappe 3y ago> Betavolt said its first nuclear battery can deliver 100 microwatts of power and a voltage of 3V, while measuring 15x15x5 cubic millimetres, however it plans to produce a battery with 1 watt of power by 2025. Assuming either our device's power consumption drops, or this technology improves, or both, I'm curious what changes this could lead to. Also curious about what the equivalent of a punctured cell battery would be in this case.
- ben_w 3y agoWell, this was about 9.5 watts when it happened, of which ~40% was beta and the rest gamma: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goiânia_accident https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goiânia_accident "About 94.6% decays by beta emission to a metastable nuclear isomer of barium: barium-137m … Barium-137m decays to the ground state by emission of photons having energy 0.6617 MeV": https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=%280.6617+MeV+%2B+0.5120+MeV%29+*+50.9e12+per+second https://www.wolframalpha.com/input?i=%280.6617+MeV+%2B+0.512...
- pfdietz 3y ago100 microwatts for 50 years at $.10/kWh is worth less than 1 cent.
- OscarCunningham 3y agoWould there be a problem with disposal of these if they were widely used? The quote they give says. > Atomic energy batteries are environmentally friendly. After the decay period, the 63 isotopes turn into a stable isotope of copper, which is non-radioactive and does not pose any threat or pollution to the environment. But if someone throws one away after just one year, and then it gets ground up as scrap, would that cause a problem?
- r0ckarong 3y agoOr more likely, the battery will be thrown out with the same 2 year industry enforced device cycle and gets "disposed off" in some way where all of this radioactive waste ends up polluting some third world country.
- zakary 3y agoBeta-voltaic and other nuclear batteries have been around for a long time. The issue, at least so far, isn’t technology, it’s mostly just cost and safety. These things cost hundreds and into the thousands per battery last time I checked. And for that they put out less power than a coin cell. Outside of pacemakers and space probes where a battery change is difficult to impossible, there aren’t a lot of use cases where the cost is justified. There actually are other isotopes such as Hafnium 178m2 which have the potential to make much more energy and power dense nuclear batteries, but due to safety concerns haven’t been developed yet. Checkout: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafnium_controversy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hafnium_controversy > 178m2Hf has the highest excitation energy of any comparably long-lived isomer. One gram of pure 178m2Hf contains approximately 1330 megajoules of energy, the equivalent in about 300 kilograms (660 pounds) of the explosive TNT. The half-life of 178m2Hf is 31 years
- phkahler 3y agoWhat is the decay chain? For the one in the article (And I'm sceptical) they say "After the decay period, the 63 isotopes turn into a stable isotope of copper, which is non-radioactive and does not pose any threat or pollution to the environment." How long does that take and what other things are produced? What if someone throws one into a campfire?
- p1mrx 3y agoIt's a single isotope, nickel-63, which decays into regular copper-63. The amount of nickel halves every 96 years. If you throw it in a fire, you'll disperse nickel-63 into the environment, which isn't good, but the decay process is unaffected.
- Fatnino 3y agoI've seen it said that it takes 10 halflives for something to decay all the way away. So like 1000 years for this to flush itself.
- 3y ago
- r0ckarong 3y agoThe last thing I can think of to work is putting nuclear safety in the hands of the public, one radioactive choking hazard at a time.
- flandish 3y agoIt’s already here, been for decades in the form of your ionization smoke detector. It contains Americium, a radioactive element.
- dtgriscom 3y agoBut nowhere near as much as the proposed battery.
- kragen 3y agoalso tritium keychains, thorium gas lanterns, uranium-glazed fiestaware, uranium glass, uranium-glazed tiles, antistatic phonograph record cleaning brushes, thoriated camera lenses, thorium-oxide negative-ion generator bracelets, and radium-dial watches. some of these are dangerously radioactive and/or consumable, most are not
- r0ckarong 3y agoI've heard of some of those and I'm not aware that any of these are actively marketed in any relevant quantity anymore.
- kragen 3y agotritium keychains, americium smoke detectors, and antistatic phonograph record cleaning brushes are. you might even be able to find thoria gas lantern mantles
- petee 3y agoAlthough not marketed for the public at large, thoriated TIG welding rods are still a thing, and widely available too. They are consumable, and they need to be ground down to profile for use.
- WhackyIdeas 3y agoWho else is seeing a future of tiny spy devices powered by tiny batteries which last decades?
- ollybee 3y agoI'm pretty sure those already exist. As other have said, this is not a new technology.
- WhackyIdeas 3y agoHmm.. never considered that before. They are then probably being created at even more miniature scales, isn’t the UK, USA and a bunch of other Western countries already able to produce silicon chips at tiny scales even the Chinese can’t currently achieve? Makes ya wonder.
- ttul 3y agoFuture?
- GuB-42 3y agoI wonder how detectable it would be. Won't these devices emit a bit of a certain kind of radiation that even if low enough to be harmless to human health, could be enough to be detected by sensitive equipment. Like the X-rays emitted by tritium vials used for illumination.
- maximus-decimus 3y agoI'm sure you can add some kind of shielding if we can have nuclear power plants be safe. I wonder if you would need heavy water.
- GuB-42 3y agoProbably, but X-rays may not be easy to block from a miniaturized device, as spy devices tend to be.
- 3y ago
- jacknews 3y agoSeen this every day for the last week it seems, one article even suggested it could run your phone for 50 years. I'm sure it has uses, but it's just 100 microwatts - that's the realm of arduino boards in sleep mode.
- maximus-decimus 3y agoI wonder if it can power the potato laptop : https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35074233 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35074233
- Gabrys1 3y ago1. The article mentions the next version is supposed to deliver 1 W 2. You can put a few of those for more power. The fact of not needing to replace it like ever justify the extra space, I think (and can maybe be offset a little by not having to have a charger)? I'm looking forward to a power bank made of these. This would be epic.
- Snow_Falls 3y agoThey say they're going to put out a 1 watt version, that will open things up a little more. I've seen home servers (consumer hardware) that never consume more than ~20 watts. Not sure the price of these hypothetical future batteries but that could be very useful. If nothing else, it can offset electricity costs a little.
- wybiral 3y ago> If nothing else, it can offset electricity costs a little. If they can get them to be affordable to offset the electricity costs, but I'm skeptical of this happening for a really long time.
- SamPatt 3y agoI just want it to be sufficient to drop into some ESP32 boards, to make a place-and-forget LORA meshnet. 1 watt might be enough if they can deliver on that claim.
- Gabrys1 3y agoCan we also scale this up to build a UPS for a house?
- oopsthrowpass 3y agoShut up and take my money!
- jacknews 3y ago" however the thermonuclear batteries were both costly and bulky." lol, I'll bet. A little hard to contain too I expect. I think they mean radioisotope thermoelectric batteries.
- KaiserPro 3y agoSparkfun used to carry something similar: https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/14773 https://www.sparkfun.com/products/retired/14773 Hackaday also have a post about making your own: https://hackaday.com/2016/12/01/make-your-own-nuclear-battery/ https://hackaday.com/2016/12/01/make-your-own-nuclear-batter... Obviously tritium will not give you 50 years of power, but it also won't cost anywhere near as much.
- ColtonHasRoot 3y agoThis is not new technology as has been pointed out. In fact you can replicate the battery following a YouTube tutorial. The issue here is having a worrisome quantity of radioactive tritium gas in the pocket of millions of people. Personally I think it's a trivial thing, and that the disruption to lithium ion tech industry would be the only ones getting nuked by these power cells. Which is what they are. Power cells. They are not batteries, they are in fact beta decay radio isotope photo electric generators. Power cells for short .
- nine_k 3y agoThis cell contain or produces no tritium, It's nickel 63 that decays into copper 63.
- AshamedCaptain 3y agoAh yes. Shipping millions of tiny RTGs and putting them in the hands of average customers with unclear disposal instructions. What could possible go wrong.
- nickcotter 3y agoVideo about Soviet lighthouses powered by previous incarnations https://youtu.be/SJThxJpj8L8 https://youtu.be/SJThxJpj8L8
- kiviuq 3y agoA Chinese startup has unveiled a new battery that it claims can generate electricity for 50 years with the need for charging or maintenance. Shoudn't it be: "without" the need for charging or maintenance. ??
- gnabgib 3y agoMan this has been posted a lot: [0] (28 points, 58 comments, 4 days ago), [1] (23 points, 38 comments, 2 days ago), [2] (43 points, 82 comments, 1 day ago) [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38943144 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38943144 [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38966352 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38966352 [2]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38980963 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38980963 - Chinese-developed Nickel-63 nuclear battery has a 50-year lifespan 1pt - Nuclear battery produces power for 50 years without needing to charge 56pts - Nuclear battery produces power for 50 years without needing to charge 2pts (same poster as this) - A tiny radioactive battery could keep your future phone running for 50 years 43pts - Nuclear battery produces power for 50 years without needing to charge 2pts - Betavolt new nuclear battery can last 50 years with the need for charging 2pts - Nuclear smartphone 3V battery lasting for 50 years 23pts - Chinese Firm developed Nuclear Battery that can Produce Power for 50 years 2pts - Tiny nuclear battery be commercialised? 28pts
- g42gregory 3y agoAre you suggesting there is some kind of an issue with this? This is a very detailed list, complete with the points earned. This is the first time I see this article and really liked it. I would not have seen it otherwise.
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