Depleted uranium energy storage flywheel

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.

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.

Charge-discharge cycle of a uranium battery. Natural uranium only contains 0.7% uranium-235, but it can be used as fuel for nuclear power plants after enrichment to 3%-5%. 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.

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.

Scientists create a rechargeable battery using depleted uranium, converting nuclear byproduct into a valuable energy storage resource.

While nuclear fuel contains a higher percentage of U-235 than natural uranium, depleted uranium contains significantly less. It is unusable as LWR fuel, so it is also referred to as unburnable uranium. However, the chemical properties of depleted uranium are what make it potentially useful as a recoverable resource.