Bristol University, U.K. has developed an innovative use for nuclear waste to generate electricity into a nuclear-powered battery using carbon-14. Physicists and chemists from the University have developed a man-made diamond that, when placed in a radioactive field, generates a small electrical current. This development would help to solve problems of nuclear waste, contribute to clean electricity and battery life resulting in a myriad of multiple usages.
Tom Scott, Professor in Materials at the University’s Interface Analysis Centre and a member of the Cabot Institute at the University of Bristol, explains:
There are no moving parts involved, no emissions generated and no maintenance required, just direct electricity generation. By encapsulating radioactive material inside diamonds, we turn a long-term problem of nuclear waste into a nuclear-powered battery and a long-term supply of clean energy.
The following video gives you a better idea of the process involved to create the diamond battery.
Bristol University are asking the public to give their ideas of how this new energy source can be used:
http://www.bristol.ac.uk/news/2016/november/diamond-power.html