Transmutation of Elements
Occasionally, evidence for a whole spectrum of nuclear reactions, called transmutation, is seen when the surfaces of electrodes are examined.10, 28 These reactions are found when either ordinary hydrogen or deuterium is present, as gas or as water. Of course, some of this materialbut not allresults because ordinary impurities within the environment are concentrated on the surface. In some cases, great care was taken to purify the system. In addition, some of the anomalous elements are many orders of magnitude more than can be attributed to contamination, and some have an abnormal isotopic ratio.
In general, a special solid environment needs to be created, and the effect can be enhanced by electrical discharge. This aspect of the phenomena is proposed as a way to reduce the radioactivity of nuclear waste, by releasing energy stored in the unstable nucleus more rapidly. In other words, either the half-life is shortened, or the nucleus is converted to a stable isotope. In this manner, the nuclear waste poisons produced by fission power might be removed while making useful energy, all without making more poison. In this sense, cold fusion is higher up the evolutionary ladder to a more perfect energy source.
Where to Now?
Where do we go from here?
First, the special environments in which these nuclear reactions occur need to be identified and investigated. The common assumption that the active material is b-PdD has wasted much effort. Actually, the structures are very small regions within an inert material, and can be any one of many kinds of materials able to acquire a high concentration of deuterium or hydrogen. Although palladium is one of these materials, the compound b-PdD is not the structure in which the nuclear reactions occur. This realization shifts attention away from bulk material, which can be easily studied, to very small regions within a larger structure, which are not so easy to study.
In other words, the cost of tools needed to understand this effect has just gone up. This creates a Catch-22. The present, rejecting attitude restricts investigators to using simple tools, which are incapable of answering the questions skeptics demand be answered. Without these answers, no money will be spent on the required tools.
The literature now consists of more than 3,000 papers having some relationship to the effect, with about 1,000 of these useful for an understanding. Many are published in peer-reviewed journals. More than 500 variations on various themes have been proposed as explanations, with about a dozen being useful. Work is being done in six countries with official government support in most.
Of this group, only the United States has resisted supporting any but a small effort. In fact, the U.S. Patent Office is unique in refusing to issue patents on the subject. The United States is now the largest user of polluting energy, yet resists any change in this situation, even to the point of completely ignoring a method to make safe nuclear energy. How much worse must the situation become before our leaders come to their senses?
Dr. Edmund Storms retired in October 1991 from Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, where he had worked for 32 years. His research there was on the SP-100 space nuclear program, and space nuclear propulsion systems. He continues to conduct his own research in "cold fusion," and has published many articles on the subject.
References
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