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by dale_glass
1388 days ago
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No. It lasts years because pacemakers have a really tiny power draw. There's not a miniature nuclear reactor in there, it's just a RTG, which is simple but also very inefficient. So it doesn't get the crazy amount of power from a tiny amount of material a fission reactor does. |
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I believe these are not RTGs (radioisotope thermoelectric generators.) Rather they use radiovoltaic conversion, probably alphavoltaic conversion judging by the use of Pu-238. Such devices convert alpha or beta radiation directly to electricity using semiconductors, not unlike photovoltaic cells.
But your point still holds, these atomic batteries produce a tiny amount of power.