Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Material Converts Radiation Into Electricity

Posted by kdawson on from the don't-irradiate-me-bro dept.

holy_calamity writes "Nuclear powered space probes like Pioneer have 'nuclear batteries' that (very inefficiently) convert heat from decaying isotopes into electricity. US researchers think a new material that converts radiation directly into power instead could make nuclear batteries 20 times more efficient. (Unfortunately they will likely not be user-replaceable.) The material consists of gold, carbon nanotubes, and lithium hydride."

4 of 146 comments (clear)

  1. There could be a serious benefit by Samalie · · Score: 5, Interesting

    If this works, imagine being able to generate electricity not just from nuclear power plants themselves, but from the nuclear waste storage facility?

    I would think, assuming of course this proved as pratical in pratice vs theory, that this could dramatically reduce our dependance on fossil fuels. Assuming of course you could use the "pure" radiation of the waste into electricity.

    --
    09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    1. Re:There could be a serious benefit by asuffield · · Score: 5, Interesting

      If this works, imagine being able to generate electricity not just from nuclear power plants themselves, but from the nuclear waste storage facility?


      To heck with that, and with batteries - imagine being able to generate electricity from nuclear power plants themselves, rather than using them to heat water, shove it through an inefficient turbine, and then let most of the energy evaporate off in a cooling tower. The steam turbine system is horrendously inefficient. Cutting all of that out of the loop would make nuclear power so hilariously efficient that nobody would care about the waste storage (we wouldn't need much of it anyway). It would also be far safer: a lot of the stuff in a current nuclear plant goes into managing the water moving through the reactor, which is all expensive, fragile equipment that gets mildly contaminated. Replacing all that junk with some electrical cabling would be a major breakthrough.
  2. Why is it... by narrowhouse · · Score: 5, Funny

    that all these neat technologies depend on exotic materials? Just once I would like some really cool technology to be dependent on something cheaper and easy to obtain, while being ten times more efficient that the gold/lithium irradiated crystals it replaces.

    Today's news: hobo sweat and nail clippings mixed with Diet Coke and mentos == cold fusion.

    --


    Insert pithy comment here.
    1. Re:Why is it... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

      You think hobo sweat and nail clippings are easy to obtain? Trust me, chasing them and holding them down while you get the supplies is a lot more work than you expect. Unless we set up some sort of hobo farm, I don't see your plan being feasible.