Study looks to nuclear energy as micro-scale fuel A trio of UW-
Madison engineers have a new scale in mind for nuclear energy:
Rather than huge plants powering entire cities, they envision
tiny batteries turning a single microscopic gear. Extremely
small amounts of radioactive material already perform functions
in smoke detectors, photocopiers, pacemakers and other devices.
But the researchers are studying whether even tinier amounts
might provide a power source for the tiny experimental machines
being built in laboratories worldwide. Nuclear engineering
professors James P. Blanchard and Douglass L. Henderson, along
with electrical engineering professor Amit Lal, are leading the
three-year, $450,000 project. The U.S. Department of Energy,
which looks at potential new uses for nuclear energy, supports
the research. Known as micro-electromechanical structures, of
MEMS devices, they tend to be smaller than a width of human
hair, about 60 to 70 microns, Blanchard said. Because of their
small size, they can perform