This is probably just a coincidence, but Ni-63 is used in krytons to make avalanche electrical breakdowns more predictable. See:
Electric discharge in gases http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_discharge_in_gases Krytron http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krytron Lots of reported LENR results appear to involve arcing and dielectric/vacuum breakdown. Pardon if this has already been covered. -- Lou Pagnucco Jones Beene wrote: > Courtesy of SPECTRE ... err... make that the "new" Kurchatov Institute > > > Possible Way To Industrial Production of Nickel-63 and the Prospects of > Its > Use > > Tsvetkov, et al. Research-Industrial Enterprise "BIAPOS", Moscow, Russia, > Formerly "Kurchatov Institute", Moscow, Russia > > Nickel-63 (a pure beta-emitter with a half-life of 100 years) is one of > the > most promising radionuclides that can be used in miniature autonomous > electric > power sources with a service life of above 30 years (nuclear batteries) > working on the betavoltaic effect. This effect is analogous to the > photoelectric > effect, with the difference that electron-hole pairs are produced in a > semiconductor > with p-n-transition under the action of beta-particles rather than optical > radiation. > > In addition to 63Ni, among all variety of radionuclides only tritium 3H > (half-life 12.3 years; Emax = 18.6 keV; Eav = 5.7 keV) and promethium > l47Pm > (half-life 2.62 years; Emax = 230 keV; Eav = 65 keV) can be considered as > candidates for the betavoltaic converter.... > > All other beta-emitters are unsuitable for any of several reasons: > > 1) accompanying gamma-radiation; > 2) strong bremsstruhlung, which requires the use of radiation > protection; > > http://isotope.info/wp-content/uploads/2008/04/possible-way-to-industrial-pr > oduction-of-nickel-63-and-the-prospects-of-its-use.pdf > >
