Claims of a Tiny Nuclear Battery That Can Last 50 Years: Real or Nah?

[MechAg94]

Claims of a Tiny Nuclear Battery That Can Last 50 Years: Real or Nah?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OmGdj-2O6mA

Betavolt says its diamond nuclear battery can power devices for 50 years
https://newatlas.com/energy/betavolt-diamond-nuclear-battery/

China's Betavolt New Energy Technology has unveiled a new modular nuclear battery that uses a combination of a nickel-63 (⁶³Ni) radioactive isotope and a 4th-generation diamond semiconductor and can power a device for 50 years.

Interest tech. 

[HankB]

Assuming the tech is real, I bet these batteries won't be cheap. The regulatory and waste stream considerations will be considerable - the Ni-63 being used has a half life of 100.1 years.

[Nick1911]

Eevblog had a good video on the topic.

[WLJ]

And of course for Gen TikTok we will have to put "Do Not Eat" labels on them

[Perd Hapley]

Weren't "atomic batteries" a really important technology in the Foundation novels?

[HankB]

Weren't "atomic batteries" a really important technology in the Foundation novels?

Super duper battery tech was an important technology in a lot of sci-fi novels. H. Beam Piper had "nuclear electric" power cells which were available in different sizes, but were heavy. John W. Campbell used "accumulators" in at least one of his novels which could be charged up to store something like 30,000 kilowatt hours per pound of weight - that's SO many orders of magnitude above what we have (or what is allowed by current theory) I expect it will remain in the realm of science fiction for a long, long time.

[MechAg94]

I guess technically, this isn't really a battery.  It is a micro-nuclear generator.  Maybe a non-rechargeable battery. 

Robert Heinlein's Friday had Shipstones, but they had to be charged up I believe. 

[MechAg94]

I can see this finding use (as is) in satellites or other places where a reliable backup power supply is important and could deal with the cost.  Maybe key electrical or comms distribution nodes and such.  If it was cheap, having one in your home router would keep the fiber comms up no matter if the power was out.   Skynet would love it.

I was thinking 3volts is close to what cells phones use (I didn't look for mention of amps).  A cell phone with a 50 year battery would be interesting.   

[WLJ]

I was thinking 3volts is close to what cells phones use (I didn't look for mention of amps).  A cell phone with a 50 year battery would be interesting.   

From the article

The BV100 can produce 100 microwatts at 3 volts

Sounds pretty low to me for a useful battery

Although

According to the company, the BV100 is in pilot production with an eye on mass production. A larger one-watt version is expected in 2025

Still low IMHO but sounds much more useful

[Pb]

In the 70's there was a plutonium powered pacemaker battery that generated electricity from heat produced by radioactive decay.  There are still some out there still working.

[WLJ]

In the 70's there was a plutonium powered pacemaker battery that generated electricity from heat produced by radioactive decay.  There are still some out there still working.

47 years later Voyager 1 and 2 are still being powered by theirs.

[JTHunter]

47 years later Voyager 1 and 2 are still being powered by theirs.

The RTGs on those and other deep space probes had occurred to me as well.

[zahc]

There is a difference between RTGs and betavoltaics.

RTGs generate heat and use heat engines to generate electricity. They can be moderately big and generate moderate amounts of power, but are usually too radioactive to be around.

Betavoltaics do not generate heat. They use beta decay to directly generate electricity in a manner basically the same as a solar cell but for beta particles instead of photons. They can be safe for humans and are normally small.

There are other devices harder to categorize that make electricity from radioactive decay as well with a variety of junctions, phossphors etc.

Basically none the above could be a cell phone battery; that's science fiction.

[Hawkmoon]

Basically none the above could be a cell phone battery; that's science fiction.

That's what they said about Dick Tracy's 2-way wrist radio ...

[230RN]

As a kid, I had to replace these monsters that powered our household doorbells, I am no longer surprised by any size reductions or huge energy densities of modern batteries.

For example, I am amazed at how long the batteries in hobby drones last in those airborne videos.

And AFAIK, we're still getting signals from that interstellar space probe.  Wow, like QRPness!

Oh, and I always feel obligated to bring up Dick Tracy's wrist radio and later wrist TV, so thanks, Hawkmoon!

[WLJ]

There is a difference between RTGs and betavoltaics.

RTGs generate heat and use heat engines to generate electricity. They can be moderately big and generate moderate amounts of power, but are usually too radioactive to be around.

Betavoltaics do not generate heat. They use beta decay to directly generate electricity in a manner basically the same as a solar cell but for beta particles instead of photons. They can be safe for humans and are normally small.

Yeah I know. Just an example of how radioactive decay has been used to generate power but in a somewhat different way

[Pb]

There is a difference between RTGs and betavoltaics.

RTGs generate heat and use heat engines to generate electricity. They can be moderately big and generate moderate amounts of power, but are usually too radioactive to be around.

The pacemaker battery I mentioned is supposed to generate electricty from heat.  Is it not an RTG?

I did read that there were betavoltic pacemaker batteries, but they did not use plutonium.

[230RN]

The battery is nice and tiny and light but the lead enclosure is 6" diameter and weighs 45 pounds.