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• Micro nuclear reactors powering medicine

• Micro nuclear reactors powering medicine

  Michael > October 23rd, 2022, 03:26 PM

  Researchers at Duke University have developed a radical new cancer treatment, according to this story:
  
  Gel-Like, Radioactive Implant Obliterates Pancreatic Cancer in Mice
  
  That leads me to wonder if it won't one day be possible to design micro-sized nuclear reactors that can be implanted in patients to power devices with heat. Although a living body generates its own heat, a micro nuclear reactor would be able to deliver a specific amount of heat to a targeted, localized region.
  
  Subcutaneous micro nuclear reactors might even help create an artificial inflammation to help the body fight off an infection, thus reducing the discomfort patients feel from widespread inflammation.
  
  And then consider how micro-technology is being developed to enable humans to communicate electronically with external devices and other people. Inserting micro communications devices designed to be destroyed or ejected by the body might become feasible with micro nuclear reactors powering them. They won't be environmentally harmful because their isotopes will have short lifespans.

• RE: Micro nuclear reactors powering medicine

  rkomar > October 25th, 2022, 01:22 PM

  This seems unlikely with our current knowledge of materials. I know that you are saying "reactor" (i.e. something that uses a chain reaction to increase the rate), but I think a small amount of radioactive material could also provide heat without needing the chain reactions. I believe that plutonium heaters are used in some satellites and space probes. In either case, there is a lot of radiation coming with the produced heat. Providing shielding for that will make the device much larger and heavier (think of a lead ball a few inches in diameter to absorb the gamma rays). For fission reactors, you need some kind of shield that keeps most neutrons from leaking out of the chamber, and those structures get very large (neutrons can travel a fair distance before bouncing off something).
  
  When I was a teen and read Asimov's Foundation series, I was tantalized by the idea of walnut-sized reactors to power everyday gadgets. However, I went into nuclear power engineering when I was an undergrad, and that was a wet blanket on my earlier fantasies. Unless we can come up with some new, stable heavy elements that shield radiation much better than the current stuff we have, protection from macroscopic amounts of radiation is going to take too much material for such fantasy gadgets.

• RE: Micro nuclear reactors powering medicine

  Michael > October 25th, 2022, 02:15 PM

  Thanks for the wet blanket! LOL!
  
  "Reactor" is clearly not the right word. I don't know if the right word exists yet. Scientists have developed lots of micromachines already. But it's not clear to me if they've hit upon a universal energy solution for them. I've seen a few articles over the years that discussed sugar and body heat.

• RE: Micro nuclear reactors powering medicine

  Alvin Eriol > October 25th, 2022, 10:01 PM

  Wasn't that the premise for "The Six Million Dollar man"? Steve Austin's "bionics" were supposedly powered by little nuclear power sources, as the intro for every episode reminded us, when the Geiger counter the surgeon is using chatters until the cover is snapped on.
  
  Another problem: how is this nuclear energy translated into useful work? If this implant is a heat engine, then quite a lot of waste heat will need to be exhausted somewhere, somehow, compared to the work-energy actually realized. The recipient might often get a burning sensation!

• RE: Micro nuclear reactors powering medicine

  Michael > October 26th, 2022, 01:28 PM

  I don't think the 6MDM nuclear power was that small.
  
  Instead of calling it a "reactor", I probably should have called it a "power plant".
  
  But the heat/radiation is why I suggested they use isotopes with short lifespans. That is what they do with radioactive dyes now. They burn out in relatively short periods of time.
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