Scientists are turning nuclear waste into diamond batteries that last thousands of years

Nuclear waste is radioactive waste produced by nuclear power plants that no one wants to keep near their home or even circulate in their community.

This harmful substance is poisonous and deadly. It takes thousands of years to fully decompose, and we keep producing more of it. NDB, based in California, claims to be able to solve both problems.

They claim to have built a battery-powered battery made entirely from radioactive waste that has a life expectancy of 28,000 years, making it perfect for a future electric car or a 1.6 x 104 iPhone.

Instead of storing the energy produced elsewhere, the battery generates its own charge. It is made of two types of nanodiamonds, making it nearly shockproof when used in vehicles or other moving objects.

Additionally, the company claims that its battery is safe because it emits less radiation than the human body. NDB has already created a proof of concept and intends to build its first commercial prototype once laboratories resume operations following the Covid-19 outbreak (which should happen soon).

The nuclear waste from which the NDB wants to produce the batteries consists of reactor components that have become radioactive due to the impact of fuel rods from nuclear power plants.

Although they are not considered high-quality nuclear waste (which would be spent fuel), they are still very toxic and are produced in large quantities in nuclear power plants.

The International Atomic Energy Agency estimates that the “core of a typical graphite-moderated reactor” could contain up to 2,000 tons of graphite. (One ton is equal to one metric ton, or about 2,205 pounds.) Carbon-14 is a radioisotope found in graphite.

This is the same radioisotope used by archaeologists for carbon dating. It has a half-life of 5,730 years and eventually decays into nitrogen 14, an antineutrino and a beta-decaying electron whose charge has sparked interest in the NDB as a possible power source. NDB refines graphite and then turns it into microscopic diamonds.

The company says it has designed its small carbon-14 diamonds using current technology to generate large amounts of electricity. Diamonds also act as semiconductors by absorbing energy and releasing it through a heat sink.

However, because they are still radioactive, the NDB surrounds miniature nuclear power plants with other cheap, non-radioactive carbon-12 diamonds. These shiny, lab-made cases provide diamond-resistant protection and contain radioactive carbon-14 diamonds. NDA intends to produce batteries in a variety of common and unique sizes, including AA, AAA, 18650 and 2170.

Each battery contains multiple stacked layers of diamond, as well as a small circuit board and a supercapacitor to collect, store and discharge energy. The end result, the company says, is a battery that will last a long time.

According to NDB, a battery may live up to 28,000 years when utilized in a low-power setting, such as a satellite sensor. They predict a usable life of 90 years as a car battery, much longer than anyone vehicle would last—the business believes that one battery could theoretically power one pair of wheels after another. For consumer gadgets like phones and tablets, the firm estimates that a battery will last around nine years.

“Think of it in an iPhone,” NDB’s Neel Naicker tells New Atlas. “With the same size battery, it would charge it five times an hour from zero to full. Imagine that. Imagine a world where you wouldn’t have to charge your battery at all for the day. Now imagine for the week, for the month… How about for decades? That’s what we’re able to do with this technology.”

NDB expects commercialising a low-power version in a few of years, followed by a high-power version in roughly five years. If all goes according to plan, NDB’s technology will represent a significant step forward in terms of delivering low-cost, long-term energy to the world’s electronics and cars.

The company says, “We can start at the nanoscale and go up to power satellites, locomotives.”

Additionally, the business anticipates that its batteries will be comparably priced to existing batteries, including lithium-ion, and maybe much cheaper after they are produced of nuclear waste may even pay the company to take care of their poisonous issue.

The garbage of one enterprise becomes the diamonds of another.