This book explains the physics of nuclear battery operation. It provides a comprehensive background that allows readers to understand all past and future developments in the field. The supply and cost of radioisotopes for use in applications (focused on nuclear batteries) are covered in the initial sections of the text. The interaction of ionizing radiation with matter is discussed as applied to nuclear batteries. The physics of interfacing the radioisotopes to the transducers which represent the energy conversion mechanism for nuclear batteries are described for possible nuclear battery configurations. Last but not least the efficiencies of nuclear battery configurations are discussed combined with a review of the literature on nuclear battery research.

As the first book written solely on the subject of nuclear batteries and their potential to revolutionize the electronics industry, this text will appeal to a broad audience, from engineers to energy policy makers. This collection of contributions from leading U.S. and Russian nuclear researchers contains diverse discussions of the problems of using radioactive material for microelectronic power needs, and it guides readers to future research in the area of long-life, high energy-density batteries. It describes the state of interdisciplinary research in radiochemistry, tritium storage, semiconductor fabrication, integration into MEMS and other electronic devices, and much more.

After more than a decade of successful application of cardiac pace makers in the therapy of cardiac rhythm disorders, technological and clinical experience has reached a level, at which a technical survey of this field should be of general interest and might promote the further improvement of pace maker therapy. The papers contained in this book were presented at the International Symposium on Advances in Pacemaker Technology, held at Erlangen on Sep tember 26 and 27,1974 under the auspices of the Societas Physica Medica Erlangensis. One of the traditional aims of the Societas has been the advance ment of diagnosis and therapy by the adaptation of medical skill to modern technology and scientific engineering conceptions. The major objective of this book is to present, in expanded form, the lectures given by internationally known basic and clinical researchers in the field of artificial pacing of the heart and to make that information available to a wider public. The experience discussed covers the principles and main methods of pacing using implantable and external, fixed rate, R-wave or P-wave triggered pacemakers with electrodes placed in the myocardium either surgically or transvenously, and powered by zinc-mercury oxide or rechargeable batteries. Particular emphasis was put on problems of pressing importance at the present time, such as the increase of pacemaker longevity with lithium iodide and nuclear-powered batteries or improved electrodes, as well as the postoperative management of a steadily increasing number of pacemaker patients.

This publication contains information on the dosimetry and monitoring of tritium, the use of protective clothing for work with tritium, safe practices in tritium handling laboratories and details of tritium compatible materials. The information has been compiled from experience in the various applications of tritium and should represent valuable source material to all users of tritium, including those involved in fusion R&D.

Spacecraft require electrical energy. This energy must be available in the outer reaches of the solar system where sunlight is very faint. It must be available through lunar nights that last for 14 days, through long periods of dark and cold at the higher latitudes on Mars, and in high-radiation fields such as those around Jupiter. Radioisotope power systems (RPSs) are the only available power source that can operate unconstrained in these environments for the long periods of time needed to accomplish many missions, and plutonium-238 (238Pu) is the only practical isotope for fueling them. Plutonium-238 does not occur in nature. The committee does not believe that there is any additional 238Pu (or any operational 238Pu production facilities) available anywhere in the world.The total amount of 238Pu available for NASA is fixed, and essentially all of it is already dedicated to support several pending missions-the Mars Science Laboratory, Discovery 12, the Outer Planets Flagship 1 (OPF 1), and (perhaps) a small number of additional missions with a very small demand for 238Pu. If the status quo persists, the United States will not be able to provide RPSs for any subsequent missions.

Growing up in suburban Detroit, David Hahn was fascinated by science. While he was working on his Atomic Energy badge for the Boy Scouts, David’s obsessive attention turned to nuclear energy. Throwing caution to the wind, he plunged into a new project: building a model nuclear reactor in his backyard garden shed. Posing as a physics professor, David solicited information on reactor design from the U.S. government and from industry experts. Following blueprints he found in an outdated physics textbook, David cobbled together a crude device that threw off toxic levels of radiation. His wholly unsupervised project finally sparked an environmental emergency that put his town’s forty thousand suburbanites at risk. The EPA ended up burying his lab at a radioactive dumpsite in Utah. This offbeat account of ambition and, ultimately, hubris has the narrative energy of a first-rate thriller.