Penny-Sized Nuclear Batteries Developed

pickens writes "Nuclear batteries that produce energy from the decay of radioisotopes are an attractive proposition for many applications because the isotopes that power them can provide a useful amount of current for hundreds of years at power densities a million times as high as standard batteries. Nuclear batteries have been used for military and aerospace applications for years, their large size has limited their general usage. But now a research team at the University of Missouri has developed a nuclear battery the size of a penny that could be used to power micro- and nano-electromechanical systems. The researchers' innovation is not only in the battery's size, but also that the batteries use a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor. 'The critical part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor,' says Jae Wan Kwon. 'By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem.' The batteries are safe under normal operating conditions. 'People hear the word "nuclear" and think of something very dangerous,' says Kwon. 'However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pacemakers, space satellites, and underwater systems.'"

ohhhhh...

[0110011001110101]

so this is what Iran has been up to... now it all makes sense.

This is impressive

[RealErmine]

but I would be equally impressed by a penny that was the size of a nuclear power plant.

Re:Cars???

[clonan]

We can just say its "nucular" and be all cute like George W.

The world will never know the truth!

Re:This is impressive

[Anonymous Coward]

A penny saved is a penny used to crush your foes. Or for giant gumballs.

Re:Ya Ok..

[Dunbal]

Yikes, I'd hate to have one of those batteries do a "China Syndrome" through my lap.

Then again, I could probably heat my greenhouse with one during winter.

Re:Cars???

[CoolHnd30]

but it seems that a car-sized isotope battery would

It would be difficult to fit a battery the size of a car into a car....

Re:Cars???

[Big Hairy Ian]

As with all other batteries just store them in a torch and next time you need them they'll be dead :(

Re:Nuclear isn't the problem.

[VitrosChemistryAnaly]

The problem is that normal people are fucking stupid. Imagine the shitstorm when someone disassembles one of these to "see what's inside."

I think that would make for an interesting episode of "Will it blend?". Up this week: a nuclear battery!

Re:Cars???

[mvdwege]

The usual suspects are already against it

Citation needed.

Mart

Re:Power density or energy?

[SwordsmanLuke]

...powering the pump for the artificial hearth...

What, you mean like one of these? [hansenwholesale.com]

Re:ohhhhh...

[Anonymous Coward]

"Iran has so much oil, why would they care about nuclear energy?"

For the same reason Canada does.

Canada has almost as much oil as Iran and has a large civil nuclear power program. Here in Ontario we get about half our electricity from nuclear power, despite all that oil in Alberta and elsewhere.

So anyone bringing this point up about Iran is just demonstrating their complete ignorance of the world, and disqualifying themselves from being taken seriously regarding American foreign policy.

We Ontarioians are watching them closely, they have a huge supply of oil and they are talking about building a nuclear reactor for "peaceful" purposes.

We are not fooled.

We have fighters at the ready to bomb Alberta back into the stone age, as soon as we figure out where their illicit nuclear program is.

Re:Cars???

[artemis67]

Yes, "nuclear decay" sounds nasty and horrible.

Marketing has an idea to replace it with something much more enticing:

"The penny-sized battery -- powered by Kitten Purrs!"

Re:Cars???

[iamangry]

Only if while we do that we rebrand coal to "Ancient Corpse Turbofurnaces" and solar to "Death Ray Harvesters" and wind mills to "Breeze Annihlators". Then people will BEG for "Atomic Energy"