Electricity from nuclear waste?

It could be true. The secret to the process would be nanotechnology:

US researchers say they have developed highly efficient materials that can convert the radiation, not heat, from nuclear materials and reactions into electricity.

Liviu Popa-Simil, former Los Alamos National Laboratory nuclear engineer and founder of private research and development company LAVM and Claudiu Muntele, of Alabama A&M University, US, say transforming the energy of radioactive particles into electricity is more effective.

The materials they are testing would extract up to 20 times more power from radioactive decay than thermoelectric materials, they calculate.

Since it would help solve environmental problems without destroying the free market, don't expect environmentalists to cheer this information. It's a nice start, though.

(h/t Instapundit)