[HN Gopher] The race to commercialise nuclear-powered batteries
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The race to commercialise nuclear-powered batteries
Author : crescit_eundo
Score : 28 points
Date : 2024-11-12 18:39 UTC (4 days ago)
(HTM) web link (www.chemistryworld.com)
(TXT) w3m dump (www.chemistryworld.com)
| crescit_eundo wrote:
| https://archive.ph/oCbF7
| lnsru wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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 wrote:
| 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
| kvemkon wrote:
| > These tunnels are designed for 100,000 years
|
| Reminds me of:
|
| "Arctic stronghold of world's seeds flooded after permafrost
| melts" (19.05.2017)
|
| https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2017/may/19/arctic-s.
| ..
|
| https://www.wired.com/2017/05/arctic-doomsday-seed-vault-
| flo...
|
| https://www.independent.co.uk/climate-
| change/news/doomsday-a...
|
| "Perma" means not "just" 100000 years, but forever. The
| reality is different and unpredictable. Doomsday-proof
| architectures fail already nowadays.
| DeathArrow wrote:
| I wonder how much they cost and how efficient they are compared
| to other ways to produce electricity.
| cyberax wrote:
| 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.
| m3kw9 wrote:
| For space travel
| moffkalast wrote:
| I can already hear 50s music playing on a stereo with not enough
| bass.
| selimthegrim wrote:
| Cue the intro to the national anthem TV closedown on Soviet
| Central Television
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