Quote:According to RT, researchers from Russia have created an innovative autonomous power source - a compact atomic battery, which is ten times more powerful than existing analogues. Such a battery is relatively safe for humans and can work for up to 20 years or more, but due to the high cost of production, it cannot yet be used in everyday life. Its use is possible in special devices, including those operating under critical conditions - in space, under water or in high mountain areas.




Scientists from the National Research Technological University "MISiS" presented a compact atomic battery, which is ten times more powerful and half the price of existing analogues. This was reported by the press service of the university. The development is described in the scientific journal Applied Radiation and Isotopes.

The new battery converts the energy of radioactive decay into electrical energy and can be used to power microelectronic equipment. It belongs to the so-called beta-voltaic elements. Such a battery consists of two parts: semiconductors - energy converters and a radioactive emitter element.

Researchers have developed a special design (microchannel 3D structure) of an atomic battery in which the location of a radioactive element (nickel isotope) prevents the loss of power caused by reverse current.

The effective area of conversion of beta radiation into electrical energy in comparison with analogs has increased 14 times, which resulted in an overall increase in current. Among other advantages, the developers note the simplification of the technology for manufacturing a nuclear battery, which halves the cost of its production.

"The design allows an order of magnitude to increase the efficiency of converting the energy released during the decay of a beta-radiation source into electricity, which in the future will reduce the cost of the source by about 50% due to the rational use of an expensive radioisotope," said one of the authors of the development, Sergey Legotin, associate professor of the department semiconductor electronics and physics of semiconductors MISiS.

The use of such a battery is possible only in special microelectronic devices, including devices operating in critical conditions - in space, under water or in the mountains, the researchers note. For example, as an emergency power supply for small sensors.

At the moment, the development of MISiS is undergoing international patenting, and the university itself is recognized by foreign experts as "one of the key players in the global betavoltaic batteries market," the university press service notes. Taking into account the improved characteristics, the Russian nuclear battery will be able to occupy a significant share of this market, the researchers are sure.

(08-23-2020, 10:47 AM)727Sky Wrote: This just might be a big deal if the claims match the actual device !

Quote:The use of such a battery is possible only in special microelectronic devices ...

Quote:Imagine only replacing the batteries in a device once a decade, or even once a century. Nuclear batteries could one day let us do just that, but their power density is currently too low to be very practical. Now, Russian researchers have developed a new nuclear battery design based on nickel-63, which has a higher specific energy than regular, commercially-available batteries.
Source

Quote:It is a team of scientists at the former nuclear weapon production site in Zheleznogorsk in Siberia that heads the project aimed at producing batteries generating electricity from a Nickel-63 (Ni-63) source, reports RIA Novosti.

Ni-63 can only be produced from natural existing Ni-62 in a reactor followed by enrichment in gas centrifuges.

The Siberian Mining and Chemical Combine in Zeleznogorsk (formerly Krasnoyarsk-26) together with the Electrochemical Plant in the same town will produce the radioactive isotope.
With a half-life of 100 years, the isotope will function as a good power source for at least 50 years.

That makes it suitable for providing electricity to sensors, monitors and other equipment located in hard to reach locations and under extreme conditions.

Like in the Arctic, according to the manufactures.
“These batteries will be useful for the operations of electrical equipment, including for developments of projects in the Arctic, as well as for space operations and robotics,” RIA Novosti reports.

Nuclear lighthouses
Nuclear batteries are nothing new. During Soviet times, around 1,000 so-called RTGs (Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator) were used to produce electricity for installations in remote areas, like lighthouses on the coast and radio transmitters in mountain areas. 

Those RTGs had a Strontium-90 (Sr-90) source from where the heat operated a generator providing the electricity.

Sr-90 is both a highly radioactive source and deadly toxic. There where several examples of lost RTGs and Sr-90 sources in unsafe conditions used at lighthouses in the Arctic.

Therefore, Norway together with Russian authorities teamed up and started to replace such radioactive batteries with solar panels on the lighthouses. 180 Sr-90 batteries were collected from the shores of the Barents- White- and Kara Seas on Russia’s northwestern corner.

All financed in partnership with Norway’s Action plan on nuclear safety.
Source

(08-23-2020, 04:27 PM)Snarl Wrote:

(08-23-2020, 10:47 AM)727Sky Wrote: This just might be a big deal if the claims match the actual device !

Quote:The use of such a battery is possible only in special microelectronic devices ...

Color me skeptic ;-)