Nuclear batteries

Still another development of the pyrotechnic engineers was a nuclear timer, more accurate and rugged than any mechanical timer. Depending for its power on a nuclear battery, the... 

Based on the anode material employed, eight (8) subdivisions (A-H) have been developed by the U.S. EPA.5 As may be noted (Table 32.1), the zinc anode is divided into two groups (subcategories D and G) based on the electrolyte types. This difference is also reflected in the substantial differences in the manufacture, as well as the waste generated by the two groups. Although a subcategory of nuclear batteries is indicated, hardly any data exist that describes its construction, leave alone the waste characteristics. Similar paucity in information exists on thermal batteries (such as calcium batteries), whose production and use are limited to few operations, especially in... 

Strontium-90 is a fission product of uranium, which is used in permanent nuclear batteries as an energy-rich beta emitter. 

Promethium has very limited applications. It is used in phosphor hghts to produce signals. Also, it is used as a beta particle source for thickness gages, nuclear batteries, and portable x-ray units. 

Plutonium wastes from the Los Alamos National Laboratory in northern New Mexico were trucked for the first time to the federal Waste Isolation Pilot Plant in Carlsbad in March 1999. The 600 pounds (270 kg) of waste consisted of plntonium-contaminated clothing and metal cans, packed in boxes and stainless steel containers. Most of the material was from the laboratory s mannfiicture of nuclear batteries used in NASAs deep space probes and will be buried in the depository carved out of ancient salt caverns about half a mile (0.8 km) below ground. 

An electronic or nuclear battery-charged device that can be implanted surgically into the chest to produce and maintain the heart beat. These devices are used when the heart s own pacemaker is detective or diseased. 

To date, lithium-ion battery is the gold standard for miniaturized power supply. However, it has potential safety issues, and it is neither carbon-neutral nor renewable. Almost all other miniaturized power supplies including hydrogen fuel cells, nuclear batteries, Ni-Cd batteries, and lead-acid batteries suffer from either safety or environmental issues. MFC is a potential substitute of miniaturized power supply, for its carbon-neutral, renewable, and environmentally friendly characteristics. By applying microfabrication and microfluidic techniques, the advantages of economical mass production and large surface-area-to-volume ratio will enable MFC, a potential candidate in the miniaturized power supply. 

Radioisotope sources of electric power are divided into two types according to the principle of electricity production sources not employing a thermal cycle and sources employing that. The first ones are ordinarily termed as nuclear batteries. 

Nuclear batteries are well suited to terrestrial applications however, they are less applicable in space. They are divided into three categories ... 

To their users, factory fabricated and fuelled reactors may also appear more environmentally clean, more simple and safe, just because all operations with fuel are outsourced and the reactor actually appears as a long-lasting nuclear battery, perhaps, weld sealed during the whole period of its operation on the site. 

The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Argonne National Laboratory and Los Alamos National Laboratory as well as the University of California at Berkeley are collaborating on the R D of small, lead alloy cooled battery type reactors. R D that is specific to the ENHS reactor is being carried out at the University of California at Berkeley and LLNL supported, at a low level, by the US DOE Generation IV programme as part of the work done on lead alloy cooled nuclear battery type fast reactors. The ENHS R D is also partially supported by the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. 

ENHS related R D is being carried out at the Argonne National Laboratory in the USA and at CRIEPI and Toshiba in Japan. The CRIEPI and Toshiba effort is focused on the 4S reactor concept important elements of which were adopted for the ENHS reactor concept. There is a close collaboration between CRIEPI and the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory on R D of small nuclear battery type reactors. 

Along with the designs based on proven reactor technologies, some innovative concepts of small reactors that meet the definition of a nuclear battery - power source for long-time unattended operation - are under development in the Russian Federation. Bringing such concepts to practical realization requires a substantial amount of R D to be performed and a demonstration prototype to be created. The important tool for speeding-up the development of such concepts may be international cooperation coordinated by the IAEA, e.g. within its INPRO project. 

ALEKSEEV P.N., et al., MARS reactor - a long-life nuclear battery. Journal of the Nuclear Society of Russia, No. 5-6 (2003, in Russian), p.22. 

In defining the object of leasing, one should have in mind that, being used, nuclear fuel looses its initial property to produce heat, and that the situation may be essentially the same when leasing of a small reactor - nuclear battery is considered ... 

Each SMR considered has a prototype in one or several military, marine or research reactors, besides being based on certain experience and technology of large sized reactors. Service systems may include refuelling of nuclear batteries , an essentially innovative component. Complete nuclear energy systems with SMRs and service centres have a chance to become a prototype of large-scale nuclear power systems with closed fuel cycles, the more so as full fuel cycle chain for the latter in not available yet. 

Plutonium has accumulated in the environment from several sources, such as atmospheric nuclear weapons testing, the accidental bum up of satellites carrying nuclear batteries and discharges from nuclear facilities. The isotopic composition of Pu is characteristic for each origin, and so it is possible to estimate the source location from the Pu/ Pu isotope ratio of the sanples. " In addition, this ratio gives important geochemical information about the behaviour of Pu in marine and terrestrial water environments. Usually, the Pu/ Pu ratio cannot be measured by conventional a-ray spectrometry. For isotope measurement of Pu, TIMS has been the most commonly used method, although occasionally the fission tracks (FT) method has been applied. 

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