# batteries and high levels of radiation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 17, 2019, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batteries-and-high-levels-of-radiation/834098 "2019-05-17T03:06:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 4\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batteries-and-high-levels-of-radiation/834098/1 "2019-05-17T03:06:52Z")
I watched the 2nd episode of Chernobyl last night. The accident occurred in 1986. The ending scene sparked a vague memory. In the scene 3 volunteers went into the burning reactor building to open a critical valve. The radiation was so high that they knew they were going to die-as did the people who asked for volunteers. When inside the the building (in the basement level literally underneath the burning core, all their flashlights went out. A very suspenseful moment to end the episode. It brought back to mind a vague memory that in fact high levels of radiation can discharge a battery. Am I correct on that? I can’t find anything on google. Google is sure I am concerned with either Li-ion batteries or cell phones. Neither apply here. I know the military back in the day ran tests to see what happened to equipment exposed to very high levels of radiation. Pro tip-don’t count on plastic surviving well. Which does make for damaged equipment in the modern world. ---
**Author:** ![naita](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/naita/32/5862_2.png) [@naita](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/naita)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2019, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batteries-and-high-levels-of-radiation/834098/2 "2019-05-17T12:56:17Z")
> [@rbroome](#): > > I watched the 2nd episode of Chernobyl last night. The accident occurred in 1986. The ending scene sparked a vague memory. In the scene 3 volunteers went into the burning reactor building to open a critical valve. The radiation was so high that they knew they were going to die-as did the people who asked for volunteers. When inside the the building (in the basement level literally underneath the burning core, all their flashlights went out. A very suspenseful moment to end the episode. > > It brought back to mind a vague memory that in fact high levels of radiation can discharge a battery. Am I correct on that? I can’t find anything on google. Google is sure I am concerned with either Li-ion batteries or cell phones. Neither apply here. I know the military back in the day ran tests to see what happened to equipment exposed to very high levels of radiation. Pro tip-don’t count on plastic surviving well. Which does make for damaged equipment in the modern world. I suppose if you ionize bits of the battery, and whatever it’s powering, that are supposed to be insulating you will get current flow and short-circuiting where there shouldn’t be. ---
**Author:** ![busterpickle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/258eb7/32.png) [@busterpickle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/busterpickle)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2019, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batteries-and-high-levels-of-radiation/834098/3 "2019-05-19T04:12:40Z")
What kind of battery, alkaline, lead-acid, mercury, NiCad, etc? It’s ex-Eastern block so who knows what they were using. ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2019, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/batteries-and-high-levels-of-radiation/834098/4 "2019-05-19T22:31:39Z")
> [@electronbee](#): > > What kind of battery, alkaline, lead-acid, mercury, NiCad, etc? It’s ex-Eastern block so who knows what they were using. They looked like the old 6 volt handheld “searchlights”. So either carbon-zinc (most likely) or alkaline (doubtful. I don’t ever remember a 6 volt alkaline, but then back in the 80s alkaline was pretty cutting edge). I can’t imagine them being Ni-Cad or any special batteries. By this point in the story the military is in charge and in a hurry.