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China-Japan-Koreas
China begins production of nuclear batteries
2025-04-06
Direct Translation via Google Translate. Edited.

Text taken from a news article posted at mk.ru. Additional data supplied at MIrvMomente

Commentary by Russian military journalist Boris Rozhin is in italics.

[ColonelCassad] The declared service life is 50 years without recharging. The battery does not emit radiation, and at the end of the life cycle, it turns into ordinary copper.

The BV100 nuclear battery is based on the radioactive isotope nickel-63. It is completely safe, since it does not emit heat during the degradation process (it is not explosive) and turns into stable copper. The declared service life without the need for maintenance and recharging is 50+ years. The current version of the battery for mass production has a voltage of 3 V with a total power of 100 microwatts.

The BV100 has an energy density 10 times higher than lithium-ion analogues.

Soon, phones will not need to be charged.

Finally, there will be something to power the Brotherhood of Steel Armor.
Some sort of gaming thing, apparently. If you know, you know.
But seriously, if you put such blocks on drones, this will seriously increase their autonomy in the foreseeable future.

The service life of the atomic power source is reported to be about 50 years. Its size is 15 * 15 * 5 mm, the operating temperature range is from -60 to +120 degrees, that is, literally all temperatures that can be encountered in everyday life, and with a reserve. At the same time, the power source is safe in terms of radioactivity: the half-life of nickel-63 is 100 years, and it decays into "non-radiating" components - a stable isotope of copper.

In addition to this nickel isotope, the battery, which was named BV-100, uses diamond semiconductors - their function is to convert the decay energy of nickel-63 into electricity. To create more powerful power sources based on this technology, the manufacturer is preparing to release a 1-watt element (announced in 2025) and batteries from several sources. It is reported that these batteries are of greatest interest to doctors, manufacturers of drones, gadgets and in the aerospace industry.
And a few years ago, this technology was Russian. "Scientists from NRNU MEPhI have come close to implementing this task," the institute's website reported in early 2023.

In fact, it was invented here
(in Russia)
, but the Chinese were the first to move to mass production.

The two cultures would make a marvelous team, if only China’s first move was not always to steal intellectual property and keep all the profits for themselves — in true Communist style.

Posted by:badanov

#4  "Is that a faraday bag in your pocket or why won't you answer my calls?"
Posted by: Frank G   2025-04-06 10:13  

#3  Sounds like a niche application to me (Reddit)Tell my nickel-63 isotope powered batteries are a bad idea?
Money quote: "...62Ni (used to make 63Ni) is itself a rare (3.6%) isotope of nickel, it first gets enriched to 96% to get a sufficiently high level of 62Ni isotopes to even start the production of 63Ni. Which then needs to undergo 15 reactor cycles of 23 days each."

The decay produces an energetic electron so the only danger might be a soft X-Ray when the electron is captured in the "battery". It might be used as a power supply for deep space missions ...maybe.
Posted by: magpie   2025-04-06 09:54  

#2  Seems like something Mossad would do.
Posted by: Skidmark   2025-04-06 03:20  

#1  Wuhan Virus wasn't enough?
Posted by: Grom the Affective   2025-04-06 01:49  

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