Nuclear Battery The Size of a Penny

Guru3D News

This news story has a bit of a scaryring to it but University of Missouri researchers are developing a nuclear battery that is not only the size of a pennybut can provide power density that is six orders...

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Stormyandcold · 10-09-2009, 01:04 | posts: 1,408 | Location: Wolverhampton, UK | User is Offline

Paving the way for a whole new generation of people with new cancers.

Matt26LFC · 10-09-2009, 01:22 | posts: 786 | Location: UK | User is Offline

Think this is pretty cool, hate having to replace or recharge batteries all the fecking time.

JohnMaclane · 10-09-2009, 01:43 | posts: 3,886 | Location: Malta | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormyandcold

Paving the way for a whole new generation of people with new cancers.

Atomic batteries have been used for ages.

Just as with most people nuclear = cancer, which isn't true.

GreenSWLegend · 10-09-2009, 01:53 | posts: 122 | Location: Leeds, UK | User is Offline

its going to probably undergo serious health and safety checks (poor mice and monkeys) before it is considered mainstream.
why not more efficient solar power?

scottyg2 · 10-09-2009, 03:46 | posts: 374 | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenSWLegend

its going to probably undergo serious health and safety checks (poor mice and monkeys) before it is considered mainstream.
why not more efficient solar power?

have fun solar-powering a pace maker.

ice445 · 10-09-2009, 03:46 | posts: 1,157 | Location: Toledo, Ohio | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by GreenSWLegend

its going to probably undergo serious health and safety checks (poor mice and monkeys) before it is considered mainstream.
why not more efficient solar power?

Because efficient solar cells are an immense challenge. On the other hand, we've already pretty much mastered the realm of nuclear fission. A battery like this won't emit enough radiation to even be picked up by a geiger counter.

Stormyandcold · 10-09-2009, 04:30 | posts: 1,408 | Location: Wolverhampton, UK | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by JohnMaclane

Atomic batteries have been used for ages.

Just as with most people nuclear = cancer, which isn't true.

I'd call the situation an "accepted risk".

Q6600 · 10-09-2009, 07:02 | posts: 31 | User is Offline

trust me you'll get more of a dose from standing next to your microwave than from this. I like how people forget about this.

**** you already get like 345 milli rem from the sun every year.............

heliman41 · 10-09-2009, 07:50 | posts: 649 | Location: IN | User is Offline

Dont forget about the mass quantity of rads you get from a day at the beach also.........Im 51 & have always avoided the sun when possible & have no spots or anything on my skin. I have friends however who relish the idea of suntans & their skin looks like leather today ..............ICK! Then there is the skin cancer thing that always comes later. Naw, this batt is neglable acceptical risk anyday. Did you guys know you receive more radation in one full day of sunbathing then when receiving an X-ray at the doctors? The natural World is a dangerous place out in broad daylight in the long run remember to use suntan lotion always, that lovely sun is no more then a nuclear reactor up there nuking you whenever it can! Hahaha!

Dahzeal33 · 10-09-2009, 07:57 | posts: 1,038 | Location: Southern US | User is Offline

I think that most of the people that advocate solar power so much, don't even realize how it works. Not only do you have to have the panels, but you have to have batteries. You can't run anything directly off of the panels. All they're for is charging batteries, which power...whatever.

Anyway, cool.

Mannerheim

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dahzeal33

I think that most of the people that advocate solar power so much, don't even realize how it works. Not only do you have to have the panels, but you have to have batteries. You can't run anything directly off of the panels. All they're for is charging batteries, which power...whatever.

Anyway, cool.

First... we need a sun in Finland xD

eat@joes · 10-10-2009, 10:05 | posts: 826 | Location: DE, USA | User is Offline

Apply sunscreen before using battery

I wonder how they would handle mass distribution and recycling. Chemical batteries are already extremely volatile and if you're lucky you have a recycling place close by to dispose of them.

I wonder if they'll figure out how to make them rechargeable. Even if they do last longer than a standard battery, nuclear waste is pretty hard and expensive to dispose of efficiently.

scatman839 · 10-10-2009, 10:33 | posts: 5,197 | Location: Dundee, Scotland | User is Online

They won't be able to make them rechargeable, else you would have seen it in power plants or other operations by now.

Nuclear material degrades in output over time, it's just the nature of it.

__hollywood|meo

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dahzeal33

I think that most of the people that advocate solar power so much, don't even realize how it works. Not only do you have to have the panels, but you have to have batteries. You can't run anything directly off of the panels. All they're for is charging batteries, which power...whatever

oh gee then please explain how people hook up solar panels directly to a water heater loop, or generators.

but LOL@ solar-powered pacemakers. nice.

SamW · *Last edited by SamW; 10-10-2009 at 13:12.*

So how does this battery work? Do they gather radioactive isotopes and collect their energy as they radiate? Maybe they should see if the can use radioactive stuff that comes from nuclear power plants. I guess what they can use depends on the kind of radiation.

If the battery case can shield most of the radiation, then this battery wouldn't leak much if any radiation at all.

Since the waste product of this battery will be less radioactive than the original source product, the best way to dispose of it is just to put it back where we found it :p

Quote:

Originally Posted by __hollywood|meo

oh gee then please explain how people hook up solar panels directly to a water heater loop, or generators.

Solar water heating doesn't involve electricity (or photo voltaic cells) and I don't think you hook up solar panels to generators. Rather you have to hook it up to something that can condition the power to a form you can use. Or you use solar energy to heat up water to run a turbine.

But I think the real point that should be made, is that solar power is entirely a different kind of power than battery power. Solar power is not continuous like battery power.

Chouji · *Last edited by Chouji; 10-10-2009 at 14:55.*

About freakin time.
I've been waiting for someone to create a more effecient small power source.
I even had a nice little day dream about how you would configure them to work in old devices.

Have it the size of an AAA battery, with adjustable power output. Then you would use dummy batteries in the rest of the system.
-[Dummy}[Dummy}[Dummy}[Realbat}+
The real battery would be adjusted to replace 4 batteries, ie 6volts. where the dummies just have a wire to pass through it.

It would make multi-battery devices much lighter. You could use it with AAA to AA, C or D battery adapters along with cheap matching dummy batteries.
A thin lead lining will help block any radiation. (you don't need alot of lead)

It could possibly have a very long life span, extending into years or decades.

Imagine having to replace your device, before the batteries.
Imagine having a LAPTOP that could run 24/7 for weeks at a time. Also the laptop would be much lighter only needing 2 or 3 cells, instead of 6+.
(These 2 imagines were from my day dream of small infinite power sources, not batteries. Micro ZPM's.. Stargate anyone?)

PS solar water heating just uses the sun to "help" heat the water using large metal tanks on the roof, made of special materials that let heat in, but not out. You still need a gas or electric water heater. I tried using solar water heating, but my climate just didn't agree with it, i only got decent water temperatures a couple months of the year, not worth the cost. But if you live in a hot area like Arizona or Texas, or Nevada. Then go for it.

Morphingdragon · 10-10-2009, 16:05 | posts: 39 | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stormyandcold

Paving the way for a whole new generation of people with new cancers.

... and a whole generation who don't understand the basics, just shun it because of one freak accident because an idiot was in charge. Your car is more dangerous than a Nuclear Power Plant. If you want to be like, go chuck out all your Ionizing Smoke Detectors because they have a nice stash americium in them.

The only dangerous radiation is Gamma and Neutron Radiation. Alpha/Beta is stopped with aluminium and Gamma/Neutron can be decreased using the right isotope/lead.

I say being it on!!!

ice445 · 10-10-2009, 18:15 | posts: 1,157 | Location: Toledo, Ohio | User is Offline

To the people claiming this will irradiate everyone and cause cancer, lol. But, disposing of these things could potentially be a problem.

Stormyandcold · 10-10-2009, 18:23 | posts: 1,408 | Location: Wolverhampton, UK | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morphingdragon

... and a whole generation who don't understand the basics, just shun it because of one freak accident because an idiot was in charge. Your car is more dangerous than a Nuclear Power Plant. If you want to be like, go chuck out all your Ionizing Smoke Detectors because they have a nice stash americium in them.

The only dangerous radiation is Gamma and Neutron Radiation. Alpha/Beta is stopped with aluminium and Gamma/Neutron can be decreased using the right isotope/lead.

I say being it on!!!

I understand enough. You forget the toxic waste these nuclear power plants create. So toxic infact that it has to be sold to countries like China to get rid of. Ofcourse, everthings ok when you can shift the problem elsewhere and just forget about it.

As I said, it's all accepted risk. Nothing more, nothing less.

volkov956 · *Last edited by volkov956; 10-11-2009 at 09:45.*

no battery disposable place up here in the NWT so i take them out and blow them up burn them or punch a hole through them with FMJ if they are large enough battery

Well thats a disapointment no hippies cried..

nvlddmkm · 10-11-2009, 00:06 | posts: 2,158 | Location: Indiana | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morphingdragon

... and a whole generation who don't understand the basics, just shun it because of one freak accident because an idiot was in charge. Your car is more dangerous than a Nuclear Power Plant. If you want to be like, go chuck out all your Ionizing Smoke Detectors because they have a nice stash americium in them.

The only dangerous radiation is Gamma and Neutron Radiation. Alpha/Beta is stopped with aluminium and Gamma/Neutron can be decreased using the right isotope/lead.

I say being it on!!!

You sir, are educated.

Morphingdragon · 10-11-2009, 01:33 | posts: 39 | User is Offline

Quote:

Originally Posted by nvlddmkm

You sir, are educated.

Thanks!

My english is still at poorer levels than LolCatdom though.

Bloody NCEA, teaching pointless BS like movie analysis. I might have to waste half a year because I might not be able to get University entrance

I'm not looking foward to that. :/