The Briefing Room

General Category => Science, Technology and Knowledge => Topic started by: Free Vulcan on December 07, 2018, 03:04:43 am

Title: This diamond battery is made from nuclear waste
Post by: Free Vulcan on December 07, 2018, 03:04:43 am

(https://assets.weforum.org/article/image/large_M8qhBSkq73VjD6gYAl4TouXaVCZ49tP9nzKNmm3R64M.jpg)

Scientists from the University of Bristol Cabot Institute are hitting two birds with one stone, thanks to their lab-made diamond that can generate electricity and is made from upcycled radioactive waste.

In nuclear power plants, radioactive uranium is split in a process called nuclear fission. When the atoms are split, heat is generated, and that heat then vaporizes water into steam that turns electricity-generating turbines.

A severe downside of this process is the creation of dangerous radioactive waste, which ultimately deposits in the graphite core that it is housed in. Today, this nuclear contamination is safely stored away until it stops being radioactive…and with a half-life of 5,730 years, that takes quite a while.

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/these-scientists-are-turning-radioactive-waste-into-diamond-batteries (https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/02/these-scientists-are-turning-radioactive-waste-into-diamond-batteries)

Title: Re: This diamond battery is made from nuclear waste
Post by: Elderberry on December 07, 2018, 03:21:37 am

A typical AA battery stores 13,000 Joules and is exhausted after about 24 hours, while a C-14 diamond battery would produce only 15 Joules per day but have a half life of almost 6,000 years.