Depleted uranium energy storage flywheel

Can uranium rechargeable batteries transform nuclear waste management?

The Japan Atomic Energy Agency has developed the world’s first uranium-based rechargeable battery. “We successfully developed a rechargeable battery using uranium as an active material,” said the institute in a press release. This could transform the management of nuclear waste and address the growing need for efficient energy storage capabilities.

Could depleted uranium help reduce wind and solar inconsistency?

Researchers in Japan developed a battery utilizing depleted uranium that could help mitigate the inconsistency of wind and solar. It seems like something right out of Doc Brown’s garage in Back to the Future: a rechargeable battery made with depleted uranium. But that’s exactly what researchers in Japan have built.

What is depleted uranium?

Approximately 16,000 ton of the remaining uranium-238, known as depleted uranium, has accumulated in Japan as a waste material because of the storage space and costs involved. To make efficient use of this depleted uranium, the research team worked on developing a redox flow battery that uses uranium as the active material.

Is uranium a good active material for rechargeable batteries?

Uranium has been considered a promising active material for rechargeable batteries due to its unique chemical properties. In this research, we successfully developed a rechargeable battery using uranium as an active material. Here, we firstly verified the charge and discharge performance of the uranium-based battery.

What is a uranium storage battery?

The uranium storage battery utilizes uranium as the negative electrode active material and iron as the positive one. The single-cell voltage of the prototype uranium rechargeable battery was 1.3 volts, which is close to that of a common alkaline battery (1.5 volts).

Can uranium redox flow batteries help a decarbonized Society?

On March 13, the Japan Atomic Energy Agency (JAEA) announced that it had developed a uranium rechargeable battery: more accurately speaking, a “uranium redox flow (URF) storage battery.” It has the potential of using resources more effectively to help realize a decarbonized society.