With recent news of the nuclear battery making steady progress it is worth considering them within the development of the pico projector. BBC showed on thursday that the University of Missouri team have managed to create a nuclear battery that holds 1million times the charge as a a standard battery of similar weight and size. This news is pretty phenomenal. The sceptics out there instantly hear this and start talking about nuclear contamination and the negative side effects. Without a doubt there are issues that need addressing to do with the radiation given out by these nuclear batteries, but this is definitely a power source worth investigating.

The benifits are clear – using the decay of radioactive substances an electrical current can be harvested at a standard, usable level that can maintained at a good standard for a huge length of time. Concerns about instability are quickly cleared when you hear that a nuclear battery can continue to operate at a standard voltage like a normal battery, but potentially non stop from 10 – 100 years. Yes you read that correctly, nuclear batteries in your laptop or micro projector would mean you could turn it on now, and leave your device on non stop for 10 years without recharging, turning off, hibernating – nothing – just repeat use for at least ten years!

With power becoming more and more important day by day inventions like the nuclear battery are becoming more important, a nuclear battery powered pico projector would definitely be invaluable, or a mobile phone you never have to charge? Its achievable. The negative’s however currently outweigh these possitives. Despite the nuclear battery being developed since the 1970′s it does still not fully satisfy radiation concerns. The costs also could prove to outweigh the value and also the question of nuclear material being disposed of/used in negative situations is still open for a realistic answer, disposal of the material badly could cause huge problems on earth and needs to be addressed before mass produced electronics can use even shielded nuclear batteries.

From what Dr Jae at the universaty says we use these batteries more than you would think – “People hear the word ‘nuclear’ and think of something very dangerous ” – “However, nuclear power sources have already been safely powering a variety of devices, such as pacemakers, space satellites and underwater systems.”

Couple the 10 year battery with the laser projector’s soon reaching uk stores and we could have some amazing gadgets! The possibilities are going to produce some fantastic developments!