Turning nuclear waste into diamond batteries

摘要

A PRECIOUS breakthrough perhaps? Researchers say they can use nuclear waste to make a diamond battery that could power satellites and pacemakers. A team from the University of Bristol in the UK has demonstrated it can produce a diamond battery from radioactive nickel-43, and its attention is now focussed on optimising the processes to use radioactive carbon-14 instead. The advantage of using carbon-14 lies in the fact that it is generated in graphite blocks used to moderate reactions in nuclear power plants.