Today, I was causally surfing the internet and I encountered the Opto-Electric nuclear battery. I became curious to learn about it. What is Opto-Electric Nuclear Battery? It is a device in which the nuclear energy is converted to light and which is further is converted to electric energy. A very controlled nuclear reaction takes place insides the battery which is modified to give its output as light and this light is converted into electric energy by the surrounding walls containing the photovoltaic layers and wide forbidden zones made of diamond. The battery may consist of argon, xenon or krypton or a mixture of them in a vessel (high pressure) with the linings of mirror surfaces. Kurchatov Institute’s researchers in Moscow developed this technology.
Disadvantages of Opto-Electric Nuclear Battery :
- Very costly due to high cost of radionuclides.
- There is a very high pressure inside containment vessel and any leakage would release radioisotopes, resulting in Dirty Bomb.
Due to these high risks, its application is limited to space programs where the pressurised fine streams of radioisotope would not have any impact on earth.
Source : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optoelectric_nuclear_battery
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