[b.o.f.h.]

Has anyone heard anything about nuclear batteries slowly evolving? I heard they make it such a small amount of radiation that it's not that dangerous but it also provides a lot of power for a really long time.

 

[littledonny]

I have heard that they can last 10 to 20 years but I am not sure about the commercial availability of such batteries.

 

[trace]

What about the ones that run on fuel... fuel cells? How do those work?

 

[JeepHammer]

Fuel Cells are current powered by Hydrogen.
Hydrogen is introduce on one side, Oxygen from the atmosphere on the other side of a conductive grid, and as the two combine (and make water, H2O) an electron is stripped off.

Those electrons are collected and that is how the produce an electrical current and water.
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[crinkler]

I wonder if we will see the nuclear AA battery in our lifetime? lol Could you make a hydrogen fuel cell / converter grid thing fit into a AA battery size?

 

[Publius]

Has anyone heard anything about nuclear batteries slowly evolving? I heard they make it such a small amount of radiation that it's not that dangerous but it also provides a lot of power for a really long time.

Nuclear Batteries? Well I do know of nuclear generators if you will. Cesium 137 and Plutonium 238 are used mostly. The fission isn't what is used, like in a nuclear reactor, but the heat of decay. Cesium 137 was used by the former Soviet Union to create generators that were used in remote locations. They numbered in the hundreds, and they can't account for all of them. They are gamma emitters, and can be dangerous. Two hunters in the Ukraine found one and since it was warm they drug it to camp. The shielding was compromised and they got radiation sickness. I think one died.

Here is a link on Wiki. Apparently they have a similar story, but they were woodcutters in Siberia. I don't have my book with me, it's in storage, but has all kind of these nuclear stories.

Radioisotope thermoelectric generator - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia