Portable Nuclear Battery in the Development Stages

[Phant]

"If it wasn't for government regulation and subsidies", I remember ranting once, "we'd all have nuclear-powered flying hummers by now!  Hell, I'd probably have a nuclear battery in my friggin' MP3 player if it wasn't for the government!"  Well, the technological leap of that rant is now one step closer to reality.


From Slashdot.org -- Portable Nuclear Battery in the Development Stages --

The Santa Fe Reporter has up an article about a portable nuclear reactor, about the size of a hot tub. Despite it's small size the company that is planning to develop the product (Hyperion Power Generation), claims it could power up to 25,000 homes.

"Though it would produce 27 megawatts worth of thermal energy, Hyperion doesn't like to think of its product as a reactor. It's self-contained, involves no moving parts and, therefore, doesn't require a human operator. 'In fact, we prefer to call it a drive or a battery or a module in that it's so safe,' Hyperion spokeswoman Deborah Blackwell says. 'Like you don't open a double-A battery, you just plug [the reactor] in and it does its chemical thing inside of it. You don't ever open it or mess with it.'"

If all goes according to plan, Hyperion could have a factory in New Mexico by late 2012, and begin producing 4,000 of these reactors.

Can't wait to see if the Feds interfere...  Of course if they don't ban it, they'll subsidize it...

"The nuclear industry has never given the complete picture."  Nuclear Watch New Mexico Executive Director Jay Coghlan says.  "Taxpayer subsidies and the environmental and financial costs of mining and enriching uranium and waste disposal are never completely factored in."

Of course nuclear energy is one of the extremes of the public safety issue, with judicial accountability and industrial insurance policies playing an important role...  But those channels of control are not being developed in a free market, the government is pulling all the strings.  At one time nuclear energy was in conflict with the government's need to control the world's oil resources.  Now that China and India are turning to nuclear energy, so will we, to patent and export those technologies to them before France or Japan does.

This will be interesting to watch.

[Manuel_OKelly]

http://bbs.freetalklive.com/index.php?topic=18161.0

And there are a few problems with it's 'portability'. While it's possible the first generation will power small cities.

[Alex Libman 15]

From Slashdot -- Penny-Sized Nuclear Batteries Developed --

Nuclear batteries that produce energy from the decay of radioisotopes are an attractive proposition for many applications because the isotopes that power them can provide a useful amount of current for hundreds of years at power densities a million times as high as standard batteries.  Nuclear batteries have been used for military and aerospace applications for years, their large size has limited their general usage.  But now a research team at the University of Missouri has developed a nuclear battery the size of a penny that could be used to power micro- and nano-electromechanical systems.  The researchers' innovation is not only in the battery's size, but also that the batteries use a liquid semiconductor rather than a solid semiconductor.

"The critical part of using a radioactive battery is that when you harvest the energy, part of the radiation energy can damage the lattice structure of the solid semiconductor", says Jae Wan Kwon.  "By using a liquid semiconductor, we believe we can minimize that problem."  The batteries are safe under normal operating conditions.  "People hear the word 'nuclear' and think of something very dangerous", says Kwon.  "However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pacemakers, space satellites, and underwater systems."

[mikehz]

Yeah, I can just imagine a ten-car pileup on I-5 with split nuclear batteries spilled all over the place.

Or, "Honey--where's that atomic battery for my hearing aid?"

"I think little Tommy swallowed it."

"Holy shit!"

[Alex Libman 15]

I agree that safety is a major concern, but there are ways of dealing with it.  (I personally predict that the vast majority of nuclear power will soon be generated in the vastness of outer space.)  Safety can be tested on product-by-product basis.  Actually, nuclear pacemakers have been around since 1970s!

Rejection of technology just because it's potentially unsafe is irrational - I'm sure there were technophobic defeatists making similar scrutiny when fire was first invented too... 

[Diogenes The Cynic]

These have been around for fifty years, as far as I know.

[Alex Libman 15]

Yeah, but they keep getting smaller, cheaper, and safer.

[Manuel_OKelly]

Yes, you can make this safe, but I think if you just make it very durable there will be a lot of money in recycling old batteries.

Or maybe we will develop super conductor technology so that we have laser rifles pew pew!

[Terror Australis]

Who needs a suitcase nuke......

[Alex Libman 15]

The best place to produce massive amounts of nuclear energy is in outer space, and then "beam" it down to earth.

[Diogenes The Cynic]

Yes, you can make this safe, but I think if you just make it very durable there will be a lot of money in recycling old batteries.

Or maybe we will develop super conductor technology so that we have laser rifles pew pew!

If we had affordable superconductors, we would be able to build offshore nuclear power plants to light up the Midwest.

Right now the two opposing forces to nuclear power are the Federal moratorium on building new nuclear power plants, and NIMBY people who think radiation is more hazardous then coal power plants, when it isn't.

A feasible superconductor would allow almost seamless transmission on power so that we would be able to build very remote power plants so NIMBY people would shut the hell up, and of course, removing Federal red tape on new construction would improve our environment.

[Alex Libman 15]

HVDC loss rates are currently about 3% per 1,000 km (plus maybe 2% conversion) and falling.  The biggest hurdle to offshore nuclear power plants is environmentalist alarmism about Frankenfish and radioactive waste disposal.  Those concerns are overblown, of course, but it would probably be easier to build a space elevator than argue with them eco-nuts... 

[Diogenes The Cynic]

HVDC loss rates are currently about 3% per 1,000 km (plus maybe 2% conversion) and falling.  The biggest hurdle to offshore nuclear power plants is environmentalist alarmism about Frankenfish and radioactive waste disposal.  Those concerns are overblown, of course, but it would probably be easier to build a space elevator than argue with them eco-nuts... 

Impressive research Alex.

[anarchir]

I hope we build a space elevator in my lifetime. Its as epic as the moon landing IMO.