City Labs has announced the commercial launch of its NanoTritium betavoltaic power source, a thumb-sized battery that draws on the energy released from its radioactive element to provide continuous nanoWatt power for over 20 years.

Contrary to the celluloid claims of Dr Octavius (in the movie Spiderman 2), there's quite a bit more than 25 pounds (11 kg) of tritium (a radioactive isotope of hydrogen) in the world today. Although occurring naturally in the upper atmosphere, it's also produced commercially in nuclear reactors and used in such self-luminescent products as aircraft dials, gauges, luminous paints, exit signs in buildings and wristwatches. It's also considered a relatively benign betavoltaic, providing a continuous flow of low-powered electrons for a good many years.

According to the Environmental Protection Agency, tritium has a half-life of 12.3 years and the Model P100a NanoTritium betavoltaic power source from Toronto's City Labs is claimed to be capable of providing juice to low-power micro-electronic and sensor applications for over 20 years.