Combining radioactivity and an electricity-producing diamond could solve some of the problems associated with using nuclear power for clean energy generation, researchers at the University of Bristol said.

The study, announced Nov. 25 and covered by E&T, used synthetic diamonds that generate a small electric current when placed in a radioactive field. This means they can produce a charge just by being placed in proximity to radioactivity, requiring no moving parts, no maintenance, and no large-scale building projects.

“By encapsulating radioactive material inside diamonds, we turn a long-term problem of nuclear waste into a nuclear-powered battery and a long-term supply of clean energy,” said Tom Scott, professor of Materials at the University of Bristol.

The diamond made at the university was grown using Nickel-63 as the radiation source. The researchers believe a more efficient ”diamond battery” can be made using carbon-14, a radioactive version of carbon found in the graphite blocks used to moderate the nuclear reaction in today’s nuclear power plants. Extracting the carbon-14 from the blocks can also reduce the difficulty of storing nuclear waste, since most of the radioactive carbon-14 is concentrated at the surface of the blocks and can be removed. The remaining carbon-14 can then be incorporated into a lab-grown diamond.

The diamonds lock the carbon-14 inside, turning a material which emits short-range radiation into a contained battery.

The diamond batteries produce a relatively low amount of power compared to current batteries, the researchers said. However, it has an incredibly long half-life, taking 5,730 years to drain to 50 percent of its power.