Atomic Batteries to power

Everybody remembers the Adam West version of Batman where he had a really cool (for the 60s) Batmobile. As Batman and Robin were getting ready to leave the Batcave, they'd go through the checklist. Robin would call out "Atomic batteries to power. Turbines to speed," and Batman would say "Roger. Ready to move out" and off they'd go. They seemed oblivious to the fact that they were tooling around the city at high speed sitting on an atomic bomb.

Well, in the novel The Ark Lords, I really did need atomic batteries to power the subbasement of the Tevatron, the flashlights and the walkie-talkies that were sitting there for 800 years. Here is Rei stumbling across them:

     “Wow,” Rei said. “He died here and yet he is still helping us, eight centuries later.” Rei straightened up and pointed to the sealed end of the corridor. “That’s what he was defending. That’s where the virus is stored. He knew the Ark Lords couldn’t just blow him up. With his back against that door, he had all the advantage. Come on.”
     Rome stood up and the group gathered around the huge bulkhead blocking off the end of the hallway. A shiny object, lying on the floor, caught Rei’s attention. He bent over and picked it up. It was a flashlight. There was zero chance it would still be working after eight centuries but Rei tried the switch anyway. A yellowish glow emitted from the front.
     “What the hell?” Rei said. He twisted the barrel and opened the sealed cap. A battery slid out into his hand. The light from MINIMCOM’s shoulders was enough to allow Rei to read the label.
     “Thorium?” he said. “Atomic batteries? These guys thought of everything.”
     Rei reassembled the flashlight and turned the beam which was getting dimmer, on the center of the door. A bent cylinder, machined, stuck out from the front.

So they really did have atomic batteries. Pretty neat, huh?