The world is going into "green energy" direction. Wind and sun are not enough effective in many regions of the world.
But we have also alternative ideas. A website edmtunes.com describes an idea:
"A US startup, NDB (Nano Diamond Battery) just created a high-power diamond-based alpha, beta, and neutron voltaic battery capable of lasting 28,000 years. We know that’s a mouthful. But they’ve apparently combined radioactive isotopes from nuclear waste with ultra-slim layers of nanodiamonds to assemble it.
Well, diamonds are the hardest material in our world. What’s more, is it has the highest energy-conductivity, where it quickly transfers heat. For this battery, its energy comes from waste previously used in graphite-cooled nuclear reactors cooled. Wafer-thin layers of crystalline diamond encase this graphite, rendering it non-radioactive. As a result, the diamond acts as a semiconductor and heat sink, collecting charge and preventing radiation leaks."
Some years ago I worked in a scientific team about carbon - metal junction which generated electric current under influence of x - ray beams. A picture of the junction is shown above. I have obtained these bilayers using chemical vapour depositin method (CVD) and also electrodeposition what I described in articles "X-ray solar cell based on carbon-metal junction" and "A carbon-metal junction prepared by CVD technique as X-ray photovoltaic cell". This was preliminary research. I think that with the appropriate amount of work and money, it is possible to obtain sufficient efficiency needed for commercial applications from these cells . In a patent application I described potential applications:
"EU and US patents “Radiation detector and a method for producing a metal-carbon junction for a radiation detector” describe a novel carbon – metal sensor sensitive for UV, X and gamma radiation produced by Chemical Vapour Deposition (CVD) method. This sensor can be used on Earth for example in nuclear reactors industry and also in a cosmic space, where UV, X and gamma rays occurs, as a solar cell for space probes. In near future NASA, ESA and private organizations like Mars One are planning to build bases on the Moon and Mars. Because of vacuum conditions CVD method could be applied there without using complicated equipment like on Earth. Because of easy production big areas of Mars or the Moon could be covered by these solar cells. Also the patent could be used for solar power plants placed in orbit."
Many countries in the world have nuclear power plants and do not know what to do with radioactive waste. There are many countries with deep coal mines that are either closed or will close soon. Based on the idea of the NDB company and the ideas of the group in which I worked waste from nuclear power plants can be placed in mine walkways and surrounded by the junctions described above. In this way, "solar power plants" will be built deep underground that will operate without maintenance for thousands of years. So in this way it is possible to provide electricity for the next countless generations.