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from the diamonds-are-our-best-friend dept.
[Converting] Carbon-14 from nuclear waste to long life battery.
From engadget
Nuclear waste is normally a major environmental headache, but it could soon be a source of clean energy. Scientists have developed a method of turning that waste into batteries using diamond.
From treehugger
"There are no moving parts involved, no emissions generated and no maintenance required, just direct electricity generation," said Professor of Materials Tom Scott. "By encapsulating radioactive material inside diamonds, we turn a long-term problem of nuclear waste into a nuclear-powered battery and a long-term supply of clean energy."
From newatlas
One unexpected example of this is the Bristol team's work on a major source of nuclear waste from Britain's aging Magnox reactors, which are now being decommissioned after over half a century of service. These first generation reactors used graphite blocks as moderators to slow down neutrons to keep the nuclear fission process running, but decades of exposure have left the UK with 95,000 tonnes (104,720 tons) of graphite blocks that are now classed as nuclear waste because the radiation in the reactors changes some of the inert carbon in the blocks into radioactive carbon-14.
Presumably other beta emitters could be wrapped in diamond shells creating a common class of Betavoltaic nuclear batteries. Although the diamond in a diamond seems an elegant technical solution.
(Score: 3, Informative) by PocketSizeSUn on Wednesday November 30 2016, @04:45AM
The Bristol team just refers to a group of physicists and chemists at the University of Bristol.
Tom Scott is: http://www.bristol.ac.uk/physics/people/tom-b-scott/ [bristol.ac.uk]
My research is based around ageing, corrosion and characterisation of radioactive materials in engineered and environmental systems, and has resulted in over 60 published papers and 3 patents
The common presumption being that Prof. Tom Scott was part of (and/or directing) the Bristol team as his name is listed on the schedule at the Cabot Institute. Ref: "Ideas to change the world" http://www.bristol.ac.uk/cabot/events/2016/annual-lecture-2016.html [bristol.ac.uk]
The Cabot Institute is the University of Bristol’s first flagship cross-disciplinary research institute, conducting world-leading research on the challenges arising from how we live with, depend on and affect our planet.