Not that we haven't known that this would one day happen, but it's still an exciting development nonetheless. Some folks over at the University of Missouri have whipped up nuclear batteries small enough to run the typical mobile device of today. They don't quite specify if has enough voltage to power something like a phone or a laptop as the batteries are being designed with MEMS and NEMS technology in mind, but they claim that these penny-sized batteries hold one million times the charge of "regular batteries." Whether a "regular battery" by their definition is the standard AA, the typical laptop battery, or a watch battery is unbeknownst to us peasants. It's being designed for MEMS and NEMS technology, but why not have it power my lappy if it's got the voltage? Imagine running one's computer for seven hundred years, and imagine all of that delicious space saved from the curse of conventional laptop batteries. Perhaps we don't need wireless electricity after all.
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If it's still radioactive it's not dead yet so you'd probably not want to dispose of it. But, even if you did it's not like it has much radiation, and it's not airborne. In all likelihood, the chemical structure is probably more toxic than the radioactivity. Biologically speaking, radiation is natural and only becomes a problem if it surpasses what your cells can repair without error, so the risk is basically zero until that limit is exceeded. People with familial cancers might want to avoid them though, since those are often defects in DNA repair.
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2006-11-30
Nuclear battery is a terrible choice of name for the general public. Immediately people associate this with Nuclear Fission, bombs, etc.
No, you wont have a Uranium reactor running in your pocket. Just because something gives off radiation doesn't mean it is inherently unsafe or dangerous. Many watches, scopes, and compasses in the military use Tritium for illumination.
I propose the term Atom Battery, or ABAT 
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I own an older soviet watch that - if I remember correctly - uses Uranium for illumunation. Sadly, I can't check this because I don't know where my Geiger-Mueller-counter and this watch are located at the moment. :-)
. ATOMINO!!! =^_^=
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You're not thinking of tritium are you? Its a radioactive element that is luminescent and is often used to illuminate watch dials, magnetic compasses and gun sites.
If you're talking about a radioactive substance used to illuminate your watch, as opposed to powering it, then its likely tritium you're referring to.
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Yes, it was very funny.
Truthfully, though, there's nothing to worry about in that respect. These Lithium batteries "explode" because they're made from extremely (chemically) reactive materials in an effort to generate as much energy as needed. Nuclear materials aren't nearly as (chemically) reactive - especially the materials used in nuclear batteries. The danger comes from OUTSIDE explosions exposing the nuclear materials, not from INSIDE explosions. So unless something else in the electronic device is explosive, nuclear batteries are ideal. Since these batteries will last longer than the device itself, you can also design the product differently - hide/shield it from everything else with layers of plastic. You don't need to worry about changing a battery, just disposing of the device properly once you no longer need it.
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I wish bloggers like mr. Jordan Spencer Cunningham would do they research before they post nonsense news they only wish they were true...
"As for powering gadgets, torches - perhaps even electric cars - such applications would seem out of reach for now. Kwon says that there is "a long way to go" before his battery is ready for commercial marketing."
"In particular, he needs to boost the power output of the battery before it can ever be relevant to devices other than MEMS. It currently puts out just 16.2 nano-Watts. One would need a huge pile of such batteries - almost forty million of them - to produce enough power to run a cellphone."
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2009/10/08/nuclear_coin_battery/
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I agree, the penny sized technology is not for phones or laptops... for the time being.
The quote above does however say that the technology is used in more power intensive applications with bigger sized batteries. It might be possible to use this tech for phones and laptops in the future. Aren't we exploring the future of computing here at OSNews?
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