News

Bringing Cold Fusion In From The Cold?

March 23, 2009 by Jeff Shepard

Researchers from the US Navy’s Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center (SPAWAR) laboratory in San Diego, California have unveiled what they say is evidence of cold fusion, a theoretical energy source that engenders much skepticism in the scientific community.

Presenting their findings at the annual meeting of the American Chemical Society in Salt Lake City, Utah, the researchers described what they called the first clear visual evidence that low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR), or cold fusion devices can produce neutrons, subatomic particles that are said to be indicative of nuclear reactions. The paper was presented as part of a 20th anniversary nod to the first description of cold fusion.

Fusion is the energy source of the sun and other stars. It occurs when atomic nuclei are combined. Today’s nuclear plants employ fission, the splitting of nuclei. Scientists have been striving for decades to tap fusion to produce electricity from an abundant fuel called deuterium that can be extracted from seawater. Fusion would not come with the radioactive byproducts of fission. If cold fusion can be made to work, it advocates state that it could power the world cheaply on a virtually limitless supply of seawater.

"Our finding is very significant," said analytical chemist Pamela Mosier-Boss (the study’s co-author) of SPAWAR. "To our knowledge, this is the first scientific report of the production of highly energetic neutrons from a LENR device."

According to various media reports, the researchers inserted an electrode composed of nickel or gold wire into a solution of palladium chloride mixed with deuterium or "heavy water" in a process called co-deposition. A single atom of deuterium contains one neutron and one proton in its nucleus.

Researchers passed electric current through the solution, causing a reaction within seconds. The scientists then used a special plastic, CR-39, to capture and track any high-energy particles that may have been emitted during reactions, including any neutrons emitted during the fusion of deuterium atoms.

At the end of the experiment, they examined the plastic with a microscope and discovered patterns of "triple tracks," tiny-clusters of three adjacent pits that appear to split apart from a single point. The researchers say that the track marks were made by subatomic particles released when neutrons smashed into the plastic. The researchers believe that the neutrons originated in nuclear reactions, perhaps from the combining or fusing deuterium nuclei.

The researchers are emphasizing that the field is currently very little funded and, despite its promise, they cannot predict when, or if, LENR may emerge from the lab with practical applications. The U.S. Department of the Navy and JWK International Corp. in Annandale, Virginia., funded the study.