Battery Backups for Nuclear Power Plants
The crucial need is to have reliable power back-up, when needed, available with very short lag-times, in quantities required for all foreseen emergencies and through periods of potential
Nonetheless, batteries are an integral part of any extra-terrestrial missions to power the spacecraft that space agencies plan. However, looking at the current state of the art in the development of batteries; rechargeable and nuclear batteries will be the more promising battery technology over primary batteries.
Moreover, diamond-based devices possess high radiation resistance to the strong flux of high-energy particles; this high radiation resistance should be helpful in increasing the lifetime of nuclear batteries by reducing the degradation effects typically caused by radiation-induced damage .
Nuclear batteries can provide high energy densities of nearly 4500 Wh/kg compared to the current lithium-ion batteries (110-160 Wh/kg) [208,209]. However, they are key challenges with RTG, such as high rejection temperature, high pressures, and high development costs for the harsh environmental conditions .
Nuclear batteries have attracted the interest of researchers since the early 1900s (Moseley and Harling, 1913) and continue to do so because of one factor: the potential for a long battery lifetime.
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