Scientists turn nuclear waste into diamonds for power generation
Researchers in the U.K. say they have found a way to turn radioactive waste into miniature diamond batteries to produce small electric currents that can last thousands of years.
A team of physicists and chemists from the University of Bristol unveiled the technology at a lecture in Europe late last month. The technique involves scraping away carbon-14, a radioactive isotope of carbon, from graphite blocks used to facilitate energy production in nuclear reactors. The scientists use the extracted carbon-14, in gas form, to create artificial diamonds.
“Manmade diamonds have a strange property in that they can generate an electrical current when placed within a radioactive field,” according to a video produced by the scientists. “Our diamonds, though, are made of radioactive carbon and so are able to provide their own field to generate a small electrical current. This gives us a nuclear-powered diamond battery.”
To ensure the radioactive diamonds can be used safely, the scientists added an additional non-radioactive carbon layer which can absorb the dangerous properties of radiation exposure.
“There are no moving parts, no maintenance and no emissions, just direct electricity generation. And since diamond is the hardest substance known to man, no other material could easily offer any more protection to the radioactive carbon-14.”
The electrical output from the diamond is about about 15 joules per gram, compared to about 700 joules per gram generated by a typical AA battery. Given its limited output, the primary advantage of using the diamond battery is longevity. With a half-life of 5,730 years, a typical manmade diamond will create millions of joules of energy over its lifetime.
“We envision these batteries to be used in situations where it is not feasible to charge or replace conventional batteries,” said Bristol researcher Tom Scott. “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.”
How to safely dispose of nuclear waste has been a major technical challenge among developed nations which rely on nuclear power for electricity. Spent nuclear fuel has several valuable isotopes which are needed in other industries, including medicine, and so storage experts must develop ways to not only keep waste safe, but also to be able to extract it for when it’s needed later.
The team has built a prototype diamond battery that uses the isotope nickel-63 as radioactive fuel, and will move to carbon-14 next, which they say is more efficient. The team’s results were presented at the Cabot Institute’s “Ideas to Change the World” lecture.
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