A team of scientists at the U.K. University of Bristol is working on recycling radioactive materials taken directly from a closed nuclear powerplant in Gloucestershire. They hope to use these recycled materials to create ultra-long-lasting power sources.
The Berkley Power Station was been permanently closed in 1989. Now enough radioactivity has dissipated to make it is safe to begin decommissioning work at the plant. The removal of radioactive waste products is underway. The nuclear waste is currently stored in concrete vaults that are about twenty six feet below the ground. Special equipment is needed to retrieve and process the waste safely and securely. Oldbury is a nuclear power station located on the bank of the River Severn. It was permanently closed in 2012 and is now undergoing decommissioning.
Both of these sites and other decommissioned sites across the U.K. contain a huge amount of irradiated graphite that holds Carbon-14 isotopes that could be recycled into batteries. The researchers at the University of Bristol have grown an artificial diamond that, when immersed in a radioactive field, can generate a small amount of electricity. Carbon-14 has a half-life of five thousand seven hundred and thirty years. Batteries based on the artificial diamond and carbon-14 could provide power on a virtually infinite basis.
The work at the University of Bristol is part of the Advanced Self-Powered sensor units in Intense Radiation Environments (ASPIRE) project which is “A cross Faculty collaboration between Physics, Chemistry and the Communication Systems & Networks research group in the Faculty of Engineering.” The project is “addressing the UK's nuclear legacy as the largest and most important environmental remediation program which will require an estimated expenditure of about one hundred and fifty billion dollars over the next 120 years.”
Professor Tom Scott is from the School of Physics and Director of the South West Nuclear Hub. He is the leader of the nuclear battery project. He said, “Over the past few years we have been developing ultra-low powered sensors that harvest energy from radioactive decay. This project is at quite an advanced stage now and we have tested the batteries in sensors in places as extreme as the top of a volcano!”
One application for these new batteries would be for supplying power in locations where it is not easy to access and replace power sources. Another application would be in implanted medical devices such as hearing aids or pacemakers. It should also be posssible to use them on spacecraft or satellites which would allow for those spacecraft and satellites to be powered for much longer than is now possible.
Scott said, “The ultimate aim is to have a factory based at one of the former power stations in the South West that takes carbon-14 isotopes directly from the graphite blocks for use in diamond batteries. This would significantly reduce the radioactivity of the remaining material, making it easier and safer to manage. With the majority of the UK's nuclear power plants set to go offline in the next 10-15 years this presents a huge opportunity to recycle a large amount of material to generate power for so many great uses.”
This technology is an excellent example of research and innovation that is currently being developed in the South Western area of Britain. This area is the location of the only new nuclear power reactors being constructed in the U.K.