A Californian company is developing a battery that will last 28,000 years and that generates its own electricity (and therefore does not need to be recharged). This concerns nuclear waste encapsulated in artificial diamonds. In this way they want to solve the problem of nuclear waste as well as that of energy storage. Is this credible, can this work, where is this tech? Or is it a trap for naive investors? See https://ndb.technology/
Answer
Dear Didier,
The short answer is that this technology, which is being researched effectively, is still somewhat in its infancy. It is also not clear what exactly it could be used for. Indeed, because the energy generation is linked to nuclear decay of certain isotopes of some elements, eg carbon or nickel, it is a device that can deliver electrical current or energy over very long periods. It is actually not so much a battery but rather a kind of solar cell that does not work on photons (= light particles) like a real solar cell, but rather on particles that are emitted during the nuclear decay of radioactive elements. As far as I’ve seen it, it’s a device that can potentially produce energy over a very long time, but the power generated is very low.
My conclusion is that it is not yet very clear where this will go and what the potential is as an energy source. Classic solar cells do better in that area and who needs a “battery” that works for 28,000 years or 1000 years or even 100 years (perhaps in space travel?). So there is a reality behind it, but what it can mean is not very clear to me in any case.
Regards
Answered by
Prof. dr. Dirk Vanderzande
Agoralaan University Campus Building D BE-3590 Diepenbeek
http://www.uhasselt.be/
.