Betavoltaics have been around for 40+ years. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betavoltaic_device
This device generates microwatts. You’d need thousands of them in parallel to power a typical mobile phone.
Here’s the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:
A betavoltaic device (betavoltaic cell or betavoltaic battery) is a type of nuclear battery which generates electric current from beta particles (electrons) emitted from a radioactive source, using semiconductor junctions. A common source used is the hydrogen isotope tritium. Unlike most nuclear power sources which use nuclear radiation to generate heat which then is used to generate electricity, betavoltaic devices use a non-thermal conversion process, converting the electron-hole pairs produced by the ionization trail of beta particles traversing a semiconductor.Betavoltaic power sources (and the related technology of alphavoltaic power sources) are particularly well-suited to low-power electrical applications where long life of the energy source is needed, such as implantable medical devices or military and space applications.
What’s the specific energy and power? If it isn’t terrible, could be very good for things like spacecraft.
With all the CCP misinformation about them making 5nn chips, this could be another bullshit tech coming from the CCP.
So you’d need 10,000 of them to generate 1 watt.
Sounds useless.
Vapor
Meanwhile the Voyager proves launched in 1977 are still live and kicking. Yeah one of them is getting pissy at us but it’s still rolling.
Is this similar to Nuclear Diamond Battery that EEVBlog covered years ago?
Just what we need, radioactive materials in our waste stream.
It already exists, so…
…so let’s make it worse?
With the amounts being talked about, it’s not really that much of a concern. We aren’t talking about putting a demon core in your pocket.
One individual Duracell is also pretty harmless but I sure am glad that people don’t throw them into nature.
I mean yeah, but no one is talking about tossing either into nature.
That is exactly what I commented on. See OC:
radioactive materials in our waste stream
I took “waste stream” to mean “the process after a device is no longer used.” Some waste is recycled, some is out in landfill, and more than should ends up in nature.
Most of the time, these types of things would be recycled. But obviously that doesn’t happen all the time. The rest of the time will be dominated by landfill, but that’s actually not that huge a problem. It’s not like the metals are going to grow legs and run around irradiating stuff any more than a Duracell. The last group is the environment proper, but keep in mind there’s already radioactive shit out and about in the world. You can find radioactive rocks literally just laying on the ground. It’s not actually that much of a danger unless a large amount of radioactive material (or a small amount of highly irradiated material which this is not) manages to find its way into a pile.
Honestly, I’d be more concerned about the conventional pollution aspect than the radiation.
