The Unlikely Revival of Nuclear Batteries

Summary

In 1970, surgeons in Paris implanted the first nuclear-powered pacemaker, and over the next five years, at least 1,400 additional people received the devices, mostly in France and the United States. Encased in titanium, the batteries for these devices contained a radioactive isotope—typically about a tenth of a gram of plutonium-238—and could operate for decades without maintenance. The invention provided relief to a population of people who previously needed surgery every few years to change out their pacemaker’s chemical battery.As time went on, though, the whereabouts of these radioactive tickers became increasingly difficult to track. In the United States, the devices were supposed to be returned to the U.S. Department of Energy for plutonium recovery. But often, that didn’t happen. Doctors changed jobs, manufacturers went out of business, patients died, and families forgot about their loved one’s pacemaker. Too often, the radioactive material landed in crematoriums and coffins.Uncomfortable with the situation, regulators worldwide nixed the devices. The last known nuclear-powered pacemaker was implanted in 1988. After that, aside from a few specialty uses, such as deep-space probes and Siberian lighthouses, development and deployment of nuclear batteries effectively came to a halt. Medtronic’s 1970 Laurens-Alcatel pulse generator powered pacemakers with plutonium-238. Smith Collection/Getty Images Technology never truly dies, and nuclear batteries are no exception. Research grew active again after 2000, although it lacked commercial translation. But over the last year, a host of companies and research groups around the world have announced advances that they say will invigorate the technology and extend its use to robots, drones, sensors, and solar farms, as well as spacecraft and biomedical implants.The new groups are employing modern, more-exotic technology that goes beyond the designs of the past, allowing them to pursue the finest nuclear batteries ever mad...