Researchers Test Battery Powered by Nuclear Waste

"So if you're talking about electric vehicles, our battery could run for around 90 years without the requirement of recharging."

Waste Potential

An energy startup called NDB says it's making progress on a battery technology powered by small pieces of nuclear waste.

In fact, it's claiming that a pair of tests at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Cambridge University show that the battery is already managing a 40 percent charge. When the tech matures, it hopes the batteries could last for between a decade and 28,000 years — an extraordinary energy breakthrough which, if it actually came to pass, could revolutionize everything from electric transportation to personal electronics.

Double A

A detailed writeup in New Atlas lists a series of incredible claims by NDB. The nano-diamond batteries give off less radiation than the human body, according to the company, would be safe in car accidents, and could cost less than a lithium-ion battery. The cells could be made in any form factor, it says, including iconic ones like AA.

"Think of it in an iPhone," company spokesperson Neel Naicker told New Atlas. "With the same size battery, it would charge your battery from zero to full, five times an hour. Imagine that. Imagine a world where you wouldn't have to charge your battery at all for the day. Now imagine for the week, for the month… How about for decades? That's what we're able to do with this technology."

Simple Battery

Long story short, it sounds too good to be true. But if what the company's execs are saying holds up, it could be a gamechanger.

"So if you're talking about electric vehicles, our battery could run for around 90 years without the requirement of recharging," Nima Golsharifi, NDB's CEO, told New Atlas in an extended interview transcript.

READ MORE: Nano-diamond self-charging batteries could disrupt energy as we know it [New Atlas]

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