this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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Nickel 63 has a half life of 100 years. So that means you have safely store these things for 500 years after using them. Yeah, sounds totally fine.
Sounds very similar to the old Soviet pacemakers with radioisotope batteries. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, records about them got lost and so a bunch of people have been buried with pretty radioactive stuff in their chest. I don't think we (as developed societies) are going to take that risk for some phone batteries...
Not unless it's profitable, at least....
Fortunately for us, Nickel 63 decays to plain old Copper 63, which is stable. Science! However too much copper in the diet can be deleterious.
Yes. After a few centuries it will be harmless.
Can I just store it in the river behind my house?
That's bad for the environment. You have to send them down the garbage disposal first!
I noticed, by reading the article, that Nickel 63 decays to Copper 63 which is stable.
"Betavolt further states the battery is environmentally friendly. “After the decay period, the nickel 63 isotopes become a stable isotope of copper, which is non-radioactive and does not pose any threat or pollution to the environment,” the company explains. “Therefore, unlike existing chemical batteries, nuclear batteries do not require expensive recycling processes.” "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_nickel
Key word 'after decay period', which means after it's lost all or most of its radioactivity.. still a lot of time.
Here's the summary for the wikipedia article you mentioned in your comment:
Naturally occurring nickel (28Ni) is composed of five stable isotopes; 58Ni, 60Ni, 61Ni, 62Ni and 64Ni, with 58Ni being the most abundant (68.077% natural abundance). 26 radioisotopes have been characterised with the most stable being 59Ni with a half-life of 76,000 years, 63Ni with a half-life of 100.1 years, and 56Ni with a half-life of 6.077 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives that are less than 60 hours and the majority of these have half-lives that are less than 30 seconds. This element also has 8 meta states.^to^ ^opt^ ^out^^,^ ^pm^ ^me^ ^'optout'.^ ^article^ ^|^ ^about^