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Coin-sized nuclear 3V battery with 50-year lifespan enters mass production


in reply to Smee

I imagine large part of it is that it's at odds with capitalist drive to increase consumption.
in reply to Smee

Can’t imagine why we don’t put nuclear material in consumer products, seems practical.
in reply to deranger

You mean like Microwaves? Or Smoke detectors? Granite countertops etc. Or watches, and Energy Efficient CFLs?
This entry was edited (1 week ago)
in reply to DaPorkchop_

Sure, but they are radiation sources and beyond microwaves, "nuclear" material exists in several consumer products, so that isn't really a reason we haven't had consumer nuclear batteries.
in reply to PowerCrazy

“Drinking hot tea is safe so drinking boiling water, which is also hot, should also be safe”

The quantity of radioactive material and what form of radiation it emits is extremely relevant to this discussion.

We have seen nuclear batteries - it’s decades old technology at this point. They were used in pacemakers. They stopped in the 80s because it’s too expensive and dangerous. You have to track radiation sources like this.

This entry was edited (1 week ago)
in reply to PowerCrazy

In smoke detectors and tritium watches the quantity of radioactive material is minuscule compared to the beta emitter in the battery, as in multiple orders of magnitude less. None of the things you mentioned have radioactive material in any significant quantity. If you swallowed or inhaled this battery you’d be exposed to significant amounts of radiation.

A microwave is not an ionizing radiation source.

This entry was edited (1 week ago)
in reply to deranger

"If you swallowed or inhaled this battery you'd be exposed to significant amounts of radiation."

It's beta radiation, which can be stopped by a layer of tin foil, I think. So yeah if you ate the source itself that would be bad, but if you eat the battery with the casing, probably much less bad?

This entry was edited (1 week ago)
in reply to deranger

I think you're in trouble if you swallow or inhale any batteries.
in reply to Smee

They use a more efficient process. Something about a diamond semiconductor that turns beta particles into electricity instead of relying on heat.
in reply to ☆ Yσɠƚԋσʂ ☆

3V at 100 microwatts significantly limits its usefulness.

They say they're planning to make a 1W version, which I assume will be either be much larger or have a much shorter lifespan. How does it work? Does it have a way to stop the reaction or does the 1W battery generate 1W of heat when there's no load attached?

in reply to i_am_not_a_robot

I think for embedded iot type apps it could be great, pair it with some caps for peak loads (read/transmit).
in reply to BlueÆther

Some microprocessors in deep sleep mode can consume less than 100 microwatts, so I guess it could be possible with this version, but you'd need to charge for a long time. The power consumption of an active ESP32 can reach 700,000 microwatts.
in reply to i_am_not_a_robot

I have some environment monitoring units that run on cr32 that last around 12 months (not ESP's ;) )
in reply to i_am_not_a_robot

I agree that's low. claim of 3300mWh per gram, also has decay over 50 years. 100 microwatts over 24 hours is 2.4mWh. 600 microW solar for 4 hours is the same. 1 cm^2^ solar is 25mW, and so more daily power with just 6 minutes of sun per day.