Cold Fusion (or LENR) returns to the mainstream. What stage are Research and Experiments at?
The discovery of Martin Fleischmann, who died in 2012, and Stanley Pons in 1989, the infamous “Cold Fusion” has been so discredited that very few have had the courage to support the need for serious research in the sector.
Yet in recent days the news of this energy source, never fully understood, which provides for the possibility of hydrogen-hydrogen nuclear fusion, with the generation of helium and the release of energy, at low temperatures, has returned to a mainstream newspaper, the Guardian, which mentioned LENR, Low Energy Nuclear Reaction, in a serious way, and reporting the programs, such as APRA-E , which continue research in the sector.
Economic Scenarios reported some news on the most recent, and interesting, developments of this research, which takes place without enormous investments, quietly, but which could potentially change the energy future of humanity.
With the occasion of this article in the mainstream media we want to make a quick summary of the current situation of research regarding LENR, or "Cold Fusion".
Confirmed experiments
The repeated and confirmed Tohoku University experiment
Several recent experiments have provided compelling evidence that LENR is real. One of the most promising developments comes from Tohoku University in Japan , which has been studying the phenomenon for over ten years , where researchers have achieved a remarkable result: system-wide net energy production in LENR experiments.
LENR reactor at Tohoku University
Their approach involves a nano-structured metal multilayer composite which, subjected to specific conditions, generates thermal production greater than the electrical heating input. These experiments, meticulously repeated over 200 times, demonstrated remarkable consistency, with almost 100% repeatability. Additionally, the researchers discovered a way to deliberately trigger small bursts of heat by momentarily reducing the input power and then returning it to the original level. This level of control opens up interesting possibilities for exploiting LENR as a reliable energy source.
Energy emission of the Tohoku LENR phenomenon
NASA research
Another significant advance comes from NASA , where a group of researchers experimented, in late 2024, with a method to trigger nuclear fusion in the space between the atoms of a metallic solid . This innovative technique, called Lattice Confinement Fusion, consists of confining the deuterium fuel inside a metal lattice maintained at room temperature.
NASA's experiment based on Erbium enriched with Deuterium
By irradiating the deuterated metal with a beam of photons, researchers create an energetic environment within the lattice, allowing individual atoms to reach sufficient kinetic energies for fusion reactions. The metal in question was Erbium, which served as a "sponge" for deuterium, which reached a higher concentration than that achieved in tokamaks.
The team's observations go beyond simply measuring neutrons from fusion reactions; they also detected the production of even more energetic neutrons, suggesting the occurrence of enhanced fusion reactions or Oppenheimer-Phillips nuclear stripping reactions. another type of nuclear reaction . These results not only confirm the possibility of fusion within a solid-state lattice, but also point to potential pathways for scaling the process.
Confirming the growing body of evidence, the International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science (ICCF-25), held in Szczecin, Poland, in August 2023, brought together researchers from around the world to present their latest findings and discuss the future of LENR. This conference has been a key platform to share knowledge and foster collaboration in this rapidly evolving field.
Innovations and progress
Based on these confirmed experiments, researchers are exploring new avenues to improve the understanding and control of LENR.
One promising area involves the use of nanoparticles to reliably induce these reactions . Nanoparticles, with their high surface-to-volume ratio, offer a unique advantage: they facilitate the penetration of hydrogen into solid materials, a crucial step in initiating LENR phenomena. This increased uptake of reagents such as hydrogen increases the likelihood of LENR, making nanoparticles a key focus in the search for reliable and controllable LENR devices.
In a parallel effort, researchers at NYU Tandon School of Engineering are harnessing the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to analyze the vast and diverse body of research on LENR. This ambitious project aims to use sophisticated artificial intelligence tools to extract useful insights from existing literature, identify patterns and accelerate the pace of discovery and innovation in the field. By applying artificial intelligence to this complex and often controversial area of research, scientists hope to gain a deeper understanding of LENRs and their potential applications.
Another notable development comes from Brillouin Energy , a company actively working on LENR technology. Its Controlled Electron Capture Reaction (CECR) technology uses a unique approach to generate excess thermal energy by stimulating a specific type of LENR using minute amounts of hydrogen, nickel and electricity. Brillouin Energy reported that it has built and tested wet and gas boiler systems based on this technology, demonstrating the potential for practical applications of LENR.
Additionally, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) took a significant step by announcing $10 million in funding for eight LENR-focused projects. This funding, provided by the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy ( ARPA-E ) , aims to apply a rigorous scientific approach to study the potential of LENR as a carbon-free energy source. However, this initiative has also sparked debate within the LENR community, with some researchers expressing concerns that the focus on neutrons as the primary indicator of LENR may be misleading. They argue that many LENR experiments do not produce significant neutron emissions and that focusing on other indicators, such as excess heat related to helium or tritium production, might be more fruitful.
Current state of LENR research
Despite the progress made and exciting potential applications, LENR research still faces significant challenges. One of the main obstacles is the lack of a universally accepted theory that explains the mechanisms underlying these reactions . The extraordinary nature of LENR, which appears to contradict conventional nuclear physics, has made it difficult to develop a comprehensive theoretical framework capable of explaining all observed phenomena.
One theoretical approach, the nuclear active environment (NAE) model, suggests that LENRs occur in highly localized environments within materials, where specific conditions allow nuclear reactions to occur without the high energies typically required. This model emphasizes the role of material properties and surface interactions in facilitating LENR, but it also has limitations. For example, it focuses primarily on the production of tritium and helium, which does not explain experiments reporting other nuclear products or isotopic transmutations.
Another challenge is the difficulty of achieving consistent reproducibility in experiments. The complexity of the reactions and sensitivity to various factors, such as material properties, nanoscale structures, and experimental conditions, make it difficult to replicate the results reliably. It must be said that the experiments of Tohoku University seem to demonstrate the ability to reproduce and control the experiment, even if the reproduction of the same by other institutions will be useful.
Furthermore, LENRs challenge traditional understandings of fusion and fission, producing a wide variety of nuclear products that fall outside expected patterns. In conventional fusion experiments, particularly those involving hydrogen isotopes, one would expect to see mostly helium and possibly neutrons as byproducts. However, LENR experiments have produced a surprising array of heavier elements, such as copper, titanium, iron, and even barium and strontium, typically associated with fission products. This unexpected diversity of nuclear products raises fundamental questions about the nature of LENR and the processes at play.
However, experiments with LENR require infinitesimal funds compared to Tokamaks and other traditional ways of achieving nuclear fusion and energy production, with, among other things, much fewer problems related to neutron emission. If you spend tens of billions on tokamaks, perhaps it might be worth investing a few hundred million in this technology. However, it would lead to scientific advances.
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The article Cold Fusion (or LENR) returns to the mainstream. What stage are Research and Experiments at? comes from Economic Scenarios .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/la-fusione-fredda-o-lenr-torna-mainstream-a-che-punto-sono-ricerche-ed-esperimenti/ on Thu, 30 Jan 2025 14:19:37 +0000.