A battery that outlasts the device it powers sounds like marketing fantasy, but the physics behind NRD, LLC’s new NBV series are grounded in one of nuclear science’s most predictable isotopes. The Grand Island, New York-based company announced in early 2026 that it is releasing a solid-state nuclear battery fueled by nickel-63, a low-energy beta emitter whose half-life sits right around 100.1 years. NRD says the device can deliver continuous, maintenance-free electricity for more than a century, targeting sensors, medical implants, and remote instruments that need tiny amounts of power in places where no technician will ever swap a cell.
The catch, and it is a significant one, is that “tiny” means genuinely tiny. NRD lists output between 5 nanowatts and 500 nanowatts at 1.0 to 2.0 volts in its product announcement. For perspective, a standard CR2032 coin cell, the disc inside a kitchen scale or car key fob, delivers roughly a billion times more peak power. The NBV series is not trying to replace anything in your drawer. It is chasing applications where longevity matters far more than wattage: a temperature sensor buried inside a bridge pylon, a pressure gauge sealed at the bottom of an oil well, or a cardiac monitor that must never go dark.
The science NRD is building on
Nickel-63 is a beta emitter, meaning it sheds electrons as it decays. Those electrons carry relatively little energy and cannot penetrate skin or a thin metal casing, which is why the isotope has attracted researchers looking for a radioactive fuel that essentially shields itself. Its half-life has been precisely characterized through NIST standardization work, and the decay profile is among the most predictable in nuclear physics. That predictability is the whole selling point: if you know exactly how fast the fuel depletes, you can model power output decades into the future.
NRD describes the NBV series as a betavoltaic device. The operating principle mirrors a solar cell, except instead of photons striking a semiconductor junction to knock electrons loose, beta particles from decaying Ni-63 do the work. A peer-reviewed paper published in Nuclear Engineering and Technology documented a working Ni-63 betavoltaic built on silicon p-i-n structures with an electroplated nickel-63 layer, reporting measurable current density, open-circuit voltage, and power density. That research validates the concept at the bench scale. Whether NRD’s commercial product hits its advertised numbers over the advertised timeframe is a separate question entirely.
NRD is not new to handling regulated radioactive materials. The company has long sold polonium-210 static eliminators used in semiconductor cleanrooms and printing facilities. A December 2025 event notification filed with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission references a Po-210 device leased from NRD, LLC, confirming the firm holds active licensing relationships for distributing isotope-bearing products. The NBV battery is a new product category for the company, but NRD is not a startup wandering into nuclear regulation for the first time.
What has not been proven yet
No independent laboratory has publicly confirmed the NBV series’ power output, and no one has validated the 100-year operational claim, a timeline that by definition resists quick verification. Every performance figure available as of May 2026 originates from NRD’s own press materials. Peer-reviewed Ni-63 betavoltaic studies have measured power densities in prototype devices, but those results came from controlled laboratory setups with specific isotope activity levels that may not match what ships in a commercial unit. Bridging the gap between a lab prototype and a product specification that holds for decades is a substantial engineering challenge, and no third party has documented that NRD has cleared it.
Regulatory clarity is thin as well. The NRC filing involving NRD concerns a polonium-210 device, not the NBV battery. No public statement from the NRC or any other regulatory body addresses the licensing status, safety profile, or distribution rules for a Ni-63 betavoltaic sold to end users. Low-energy sealed sources have historically qualified for general or exempt licensing under U.S. regulations, but NRD has not disclosed which pathway the NBV series follows or what obligations buyers would face.
Then there is the supply question. Nickel-63 is reactor-produced, typically generated by neutron irradiation of nickel-62 targets in research reactors. Global production capacity is limited, and the isotope is not a commodity chemical you order from a catalog. If demand for Ni-63 betavoltaics grows, sourcing enough isotope at a reasonable cost could become a bottleneck. NRD has not addressed production volumes, unit pricing, expected shipping dates, or pilot customers.
Efficiency is another gap. Academic research on Ni-63 betavoltaics has generally reported conversion efficiencies in the low single digits, meaning most of the energy released by decaying nickel-63 atoms never becomes usable electricity. If NRD’s device operates in a similar range, the amount of isotope required per unit of output could constrain both cost and scalability. The company has not published efficiency data, disclosed how much Ni-63 each unit contains, or described how the semiconductor stack holds up after decades of continuous radiation exposure.
Where the NBV series fits in a crowded niche
NRD is not the only company chasing the nuclear battery market. City Labs, based in Miami, has sold its NanoTritium betavoltaic, powered by tritium rather than nickel-63, to defense and aerospace customers for several years. China’s Betavolt Technology announced its own Ni-63 device in early 2024, though independent verification of that product’s performance has also been limited. The competitive landscape is small but real, and each company faces the same fundamental trade-off: extraordinary longevity paired with extraordinarily low power.
For potential adopters, the most practical way to think about the NBV series is as a specialized power source sitting alongside, not replacing, existing options. Lithium thionyl chloride cells can deliver milliwatts for 10 to 25 years in remote sensors. Energy-harvesting systems that scavenge vibration, heat, or ambient radio waves can run indefinitely but depend on environmental conditions. A Ni-63 betavoltaic occupies a different corner: guaranteed trickle power regardless of environment, at the cost of vanishingly small output. That profile fits a narrow set of use cases, but in those cases, nothing else on the market offers the same combination of reliability and lifespan.
Milestones that would move the NBV series from plausible to proven
The milestones that would move the NBV series from technically plausible to fully credible are straightforward. Independent laboratory characterization of shipping units would confirm or challenge NRD’s stated specs. Regulatory filings spelling out the licensing pathway would tell buyers what compliance burden they face. And concrete deployment case studies, even short-duration ones showing real-world performance over a year or two, would begin building the track record that a 100-year claim ultimately requires.
Until those milestones arrive, the NBV series occupies a familiar position in emerging technology: a product built on solid underlying science, offered by a company with relevant experience, but still awaiting the external scrutiny that separates a promising datasheet from a proven tool. The physics say a century-long battery is possible. Whether this particular battery delivers on that physics is a question NRD has raised but not yet answered to anyone’s standard but its own.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
