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Japan’s national nuclear research and development institute has developed what it calls the world’s first uranium-based rechargeable battery that may pave the way for the use of massive stockpiles of radioactive material generated in the nuclear fuel manufacturing process.
According to the Japan Atomic Energy Agency, the research team confirmed the charging and discharging performance of a battery that uses uranium as an “active material” to trigger a chemical reaction and generate electricity.
The uranium used in the study had the same chemical properties as depleted uranium, a byproduct of enriching natural uranium for nuclear fuel. Depleted uranium currently cannot be used as fuel in conventional reactors.
“These results are expected to provide a new resource value to depleted uranium,” the institute said in a press release, emphasizing the battery’s potential also for storing surplus electricity generated from renewable energy.
The 10 centimeter-wide, 5 cm-tall battery uses a uranium-containing electrolyte for the negative electrode and an iron-containing electrolyte for the positive electrode. The prototype had a voltage of 1.3V, close to a standard alkaline battery’s 1.5V.
The battery was charged and discharged 10 times, and the performance of the battery was almost unchanged, indicating its relative stability, the institute said.
If uranium rechargeable batteries are scaled up and put to practical use, they could help utilize the roughly 16,000 tons of depleted uranium stored in Japan and about 1.6 million tons worldwide, according to the institute.
To increase the battery’s capacity, the agency plans to develop a “redox flow battery” that circulates electrolytes using pumps, starting in fiscal 2025 or later.
However, the battery’s installation is expected to be limited to radiation-controlled areas, such as nuclear power plant premises.
