Radioisotope-Powered Photovoltaic Generator

Disposing of radioactive wastes from nuclear power plants has become one of the most important issues facing the nuclear industry. In a new concept, called a radioisotope photovoltaic generator, a portion of this waste would be used in conjunction with a scintillation material to produce light, with subsequent conversion into electricity via photovoltaic cells. Three types of scintillators and two types of silicon cells were tested in six combinations using ³²P as the radioisotope. The highest system efficiency, determined to be 0.5% when the light intensity was normalized to 100 mW/cm², was obtained using a CsI crystal scintillator and a “Helios” photovoltaic cell