Turning Nuclear Waste into Super-Efficient Diamond Batteries

Recently there was a thread about turning nuclear waste into glass which would allow us to store is safely. It looks like science has done it again! Now, scientist may have found a way to bring this to another level that will be both safe AND beneficial!

Watch the video to see how it's done or simply read below to find out what the video entails.

Scientists have figured out how to use nuclear waste as an energy source, converting radioactive gas into artificial diamonds that could be used as batteries.

These diamonds, which are able to generate their own electrical current, could potentially provide a power source for thousands of years, due to the longstanding half-life of the radioactive substances they're made from.

Fantastic idea! Now we can store all of this nuclear waste in a diamond and use that diamond, which generates electricity, as a battery without all the cell splitting radioactive poisoning. Even though the output would be low, the potential uses are astounding when you think about it. They list a few:

"An alkaline AA battery weighs about 20 grams, has an energy density storage rating of 700 Joules/gram, and [uses] up this energy if operated continuously for about 24 hours," Scott told Luke Dormehl at Digital Trends.

"A diamond beta-battery containing 1 gram of C14 will deliver 15 Joules per day, and will continue to produce this level of output for 5,730 years — so its total energy storage rating is 2.7 TeraJ."

"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."

Since the half-life of carbon–14 is about 5,730 years, these diamonds could power devices for thousands upon thousands of years. Imagine never having to power your phone again. I imagine you could combine many of these diamonds some way to power larger devices. I guess we'll see?

I'll say this... Should a market come open for the manufacture of Radioactive Diamond Batteries, I know what stocks I'll be investing in.

The video does have a bit more info on how they're created. It also notes that these radioactive diamonds would be encased in another radioactive diamond which will give it near 100% efficiency and the amount of radiation coming off of that diamond would be less than what a banana gives off. That means it'll be safe to hold!!


Source

edit on 29-11-2016 by StallionDuck because: (no reason given)

a reply to: StallionDuck

I remember an article I read somewhere as a kid about theoretically using nuclear waste to power things like streetlights. Would one of these be useful as a small light source like that without becoming an environmental hazard? Think of all the million and one uses we have for small light sources if so.

I don't think we will ever see something like this in stores something that last over 1000 years no profit to be made

a reply to: markovian

Hmm You may be right. Besides... If someone were to take some of those diamonds, busted them open and used them for nefarious reasons... Yeah, it could be bad. I'm sure they would be controlled largely by the government.

The article states:

..."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 it is true that diamonds are the hardest known substance, that only means it is unable to be scratched. That's not the same as saying it cannot be broken; that characteristic would be measured by "toughness", not "hardness". Diamonds may be hard, but are only moderately tough, and can be broken into pieces along their facet lines by striking it with a hammer.

Maybe the outer diamond covering they are talking about will somehow resist breaking when struck with a force, but I think they need to explain this a bit further. For then to only state that "since it is covered by a diamond, it will be completely and safely encapsulated" seems a bit simplistic.

Hmmm...

The first thing I thought of, after reading this, was "wasn't there something in the legend of Atlantis, about a giant Crystal, that supplied their power?"


Sure would be nice to kill two birds with one stone. Endless power, and safer waste.
But as others have mentioned, greed will prevail.

a reply to: Box of Rain

They would use C-14 from graphite rods from nuclear reactors. They would scrape off the irradiated portion and turn that into man-made diamonds. Those diamonds could be further used to encapsulate other nuclear waste, like in a tube of some sorts with the diamond caps at the ends, the whole thing would then be plugged in.

Keeps breaking or shattering down to a minimum.

Another source: Nextbigfuture.com - Manmade diamonds become batteries when placed near radioactive sources like nuclear waste like carbon-14.

Even if it could not power a street light doing something with "waste" materials is the next big trend. They could hook a bunch of these up to other batteries (like grid-level flow batteries) like at solar-wind farms where they would be needed most. This will soon happen with carbon dioxide at power plants. There was a story the other day about paint turning heat to electricity too. The idea is called "up cycling" where there are no waste products produced.

a reply to: StallionDuck

Awesome,

This will save taxpayers tons of money. The Marine unit I was with from 2008 - 2012 was spending about $10 million a year just on disposable batteries.

And we were a small Company of about 150.

a reply to: StallionDuck

Only works for contained nuclear waste....

Doesn't do anything for Cherynoble or Fukushima or the future plants that haven't melted down yet.

Kind of difficult to recycle nuclear waste when you don't know where it is and the area is so deadly for centuries that no one can get to it to recycle it.

originally posted by: RickinVa
a reply to: StallionDuck

Only works for contained nuclear waste....

Doesn't do anything for Cherynoble or Fukushima or the future plants that haven't melted down yet.

Kind of difficult to recycle nuclear waste when you don't know where it is and the area is so deadly for centuries that no one can get to it to recycle it.

It's a HUGE step in the right direction. And yes, you could still use the waste from all that you've mentioned. You'll have to read the article or watch the video to find out exactly how. Carbon 14 is the key. I don't want to give it away. I'll let you do your own reading for you.

I wonder if you can hook up these diamonds in series to increase the joules output.

a reply to: StallionDuck

Really cool stuff! When I hear about such discoveries, I wonder how there can be people who don't understand the value of pure research!

a reply to: StallionDuck

"And yes, you could still use the waste from all that you've mentioned."

NO YOU CAN NOT.

They can not even locate the three melted cores in Fukushima going on 6 years now.

You are dreaming a pipe dream and totally ignoring the dangers of nuclear power.

The risks of nuclear power far outweigh any perceived benefits.

Please inform everyone exactly how they are going to recycle non contained nuclear fuel when humans can not even get close to it?

Exactly how much of Chernobyl and Fukushimas non contained nuclear fuel has been recycled?

And yes,,Chernobyl is non contained... once the fuel is outside of the reactor... it is considered non contained.

originally posted by: RickinVa
a reply to: StallionDuck

"And yes, you could still use the waste from all that you've mentioned."

NO YOU CAN NOT.

They can not even locate the three melted cores in Fukushima going on 6 years now.

You are dreaming a pipe dream and totally ignoring the dangers of nuclear power.

The risks of nuclear power far outweigh any perceived benefits.

Please inform everyone exactly how they are going to recycle non contained nuclear fuel when humans can not even get close to it?

Exactly how much of Chernobyl and Fukushimas non contained nuclear fuel has been recycled?

And yes,,Chernobyl is non contained... once the fuel is outside of the reactor... it is considered non contained.

READ THE DAMN ARTICLE!

Then... say that you can't and I'll prove you wrong.

originally posted by: StallionDuck

originally posted by: RickinVa
a reply to: StallionDuck

"And yes, you could still use the waste from all that you've mentioned."

NO YOU CAN NOT.

They can not even locate the three melted cores in Fukushima going on 6 years now.

You are dreaming a pipe dream and totally ignoring the dangers of nuclear power.

The risks of nuclear power far outweigh any perceived benefits.

Please inform everyone exactly how they are going to recycle non contained nuclear fuel when humans can not even get close to it?

Exactly how much of Chernobyl and Fukushimas non contained nuclear fuel has been recycled?

And yes,,Chernobyl is non contained... once the fuel is outside of the reactor... it is considered non contained.

READ THE DAMN ARTICLE!

Then... say that you can't and I'll prove you wrong.

I do not have to read the article.

I already know how much nuclear fuel is in the ground at Fukushima and WILL NOT BE RECOVERED FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS.

Does your article state that it is possible to recycle nuclear fuel from melted down reactors? NO it does not. It is impossible.. HUMANS NOR ROBOTS can get even close,,, how do you propose that they recycle that?

It's a pipe dream.... oh look.. we can recycle nuclear fuel and reduce the amount of nuclear waste!! What? those three smoking holes at Fukushima with deadly amounts of radiation so high that even robots malfunction if they get too close? Just ignore that.. it will never happen again.

Do you remember ALPS and how that was going to save the day at Fukushima? I do and it didn't work as advertised.... that was recycling nuclear waste too.

recycling nuclear fuel = 0
humans/mother nature letting nuclear fuel out of containment = 4

Looks like the recycling people are behind.

Yeah right

I just said it... now prove me wrong.

I DID READ THE ARTICLE AND I AM 100% CORRECT in saying that it is impossible to recycle nuclear fuel once it is out of containment, in the case of nuclear meltdowns.

Sure they can recycle nuclear waste,,,if they can get to it.

But an exploded nuclear reactor is...yes you got it.... nuclear waste... it is unrecoverable and and can not be recycled with any methods currently known to man.

originally posted by: watchitburn
a reply to: StallionDuck

Awesome,

This will save taxpayers tons of money. The Marine unit I was with from 2008 - 2012 was spending about $10 million a year just on disposable batteries.

And we were a small Company of about 150.

seriously? thats like almost 67k per person per year... assuming a standard AA battery cost 2USD thats almost like 91 AA batteries per person per day..

a reply to: StallionDuck

So if my maths are roughly correct, we'd need about 46 - 50 grams of C14 to equal the power put out by an AA alkaline battery per day.

Roughly 2.5 times the size/weight of a normal AA battery...but, the C14 battery will last for 1000's of years, not a single day?

What's not to like here...getting rid of the nuclear waste, plus what would essentially be an ever lasting energy source (in relation to the average Human lifespan at least)

If this can be perfected, i can see a time, soon, when nuclear reactors are operated just to obtain the waste they produce to turn into batteries....billions of them.

And they're safe? Could for example a Terrorist or foolhardy experimentor let's say, reverse engineer a C14 battery and obtain the radioactive waste for a dirty bomb or similar?

If not, this could be the energy source of the future...everlasting batteries.

originally posted by: MysterX
a reply to: StallionDuck

So if my maths are roughly correct, we'd need about 46 - 50 grams of C14 to equal the power put out by an AA alkaline battery per day.

Roughly 2.5 times the size/weight of a normal AA battery...but, the C14 battery will last for 1000's of years, not a single day?

What's not to like here...getting rid of the nuclear waste, plus what would essentially be an ever lasting energy source (in relation to the average Human lifespan at least)

If this can be perfected, i can see a time, soon, when nuclear reactors are operated just to obtain the waste they produce to turn into batteries....billions of them.

And they're safe? Could for example a Terrorist or foolhardy experimentor let's say, reverse engineer a C14 battery and obtain the radioactive waste for a dirty bomb or similar?

If not, this could be the energy source of the future...everlasting batteries.

Same idea as the mini-reactors that were all the talk of the town a few years ago....a tiny little reactor could power a city for decades..... but it died because people know what happens when nuclear power goes bad.

a reply to: StallionDuck

He is actually right about trying to recover or recycle the fuel from severely damaged reactor cores such as at Chernobyl and Fukushima, it cannot simply be done at this time, and will probably wont be able to be done anytime in the near future, while he has a grunt way of saying it, he is very much correct.

The diamond idea about containment is an interesting concept, however it is severely flawed; diamond is not very strong, it can be shattered very easily, and that effect is multiplied via thermal heat of radioactive decay.

While it is a super strong cutting material keep in mind it requires a constant high pressure water pumped constantly on a basic diamond cutting blade to give it that ability, cease the water injecting while it is in action and you will get to experience the extreme high speed destruction of a rotating diamond infused cutting blade...

We have a long way to go.

a reply to: MuonToGluon

I apologize for coming off too strong.... nuclear power is a major concern of mine and I spent hundreds of hours researching and discussing Fukushima on this site.

March 11, 2017 will be Fukushima's 6th birth day.

6 years and they are no closer to resolving the issue than they were the day it happened.

Recovery costs have doubled.

I have said it once and will say it again...

TEPCO is only waiting on the 2020 Olympics to be held in Tokyo... once the Olympics are done, I expect them to dump boron and concrete on top of it and walk away.... allowing it to leech into the groundwater and ocean for centuries.

It is something I am passionate about....

Fukushima... the gift that keeps on giving.