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United States Patent | 4,961,880 |
Barker | October 9, 1990 |
Accelerated decay of radioactive materials is used for power production. In the method of this invention an alpha-emitting radioactive material is placed in a region. The region is selected so that when a negative potential is applied to the region, enhanced alpha decay of the radioactive material results. The energy of the alpha decay particles is captured and converted to thermal energy.
Inventors: | Barker; William A. (Los Altos, CA) |
Assignee: |
Altran Corporation
(Sunnyvale,
CA)
|
Appl. No.: | 07/239,146 |
Filed: | August 31, 1988 |
Current U.S. Class: | 252/644 ; 376/146; 376/156; 376/157; 376/190; 376/276; 976/DIG.427 |
Current International Class: | G21K 1/00 (20060101); G21F 009/00 (); G21G 001/00 (); G21G 001/121 (); G21G 001/10 () |
Field of Search: | 376/156,157,158,170,171,172,180,181,182,190,191,194,196,197,146-148,275,276 252/625,626,627 |
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