Cold Fusion and the Energy Crisis: to be or not to be?

Foreign Policy Journal ^ | November 30, 2012 | Dr. Stoyan Sarg

[2ndDivisionVet]

While the year 2011 will be remembered for the remarkable progress in cold fusion achieved in Italy and more particularly by the E-cat reactors of Andrea Rossi, the year 2012 will be remembered for the slow progress of its recognition by the mainstream establishments.

Cold fusion, known also as LENR, is a new and safer type of nuclear energy that will rival the currently used unsafe nuclear power. Its advantages are unparalleled: a lack of radioactive waste and byproducts that could be used for a weapon; abundance of fuel (nickel) without the need for mining of radioactive uranium with the accompanying environmental contamination; much cheaper and scalable reactors from small to large size with the possibility of also being used as an energy source for a spaceship. The latter option is envisioned by NASA.

The presently used nuclear plants based on the uranium fission process are highly expensive installations in the range of billions of dollars. Such a high cost is driven by the special design requirements for safety and maintenance including the management of the radioactive waste. The price of nuclear energy includes not only this cost spanned for the time of active operation of the nuclear plant but also the cost of uranium mining and processing.

Nuclear energy has been commercially adopted since 1951. For the past 60 years, the amount of radioactive waste produced by all nuclear reactors on the Earth is about 225,000 metric tons and it grows by 12,000 tons per year. Such concentrated radioactive waste has not existed naturally in the Earth since the time of its creation about 4.5 billions year ago. In many nuclear plants, the radioactive waste from burned fuel rods is temporarily stored in the plant for an undetermined duration...

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks ck, but the operative phrase there is “They claim”. It reminds me of the Asimov short story “Pate de Fois Gras”.

This is interesting:

http://lawrencevilleplasmaphysics.com/

[snip] Our lead project is the development of an ecologicaly [sic] safe fusion energy generator using a device called the dense plasma focus (DPF) and hydrogen-boron fuel, an approach we call “Focus Fusion”. This work was initially funded by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory and is now backed by over forty private investors including the Abell Foundation of Baltimore. LPP’s patented technology and peer-reviewed science are guiding the design of this technology for this virutally [sic] unlimited source of clean energy that can be significantly cheaper than any other energy sources currently in use. [/snip]

[SunkenCiv]

And guess what — neutrons:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dense_plasma_focus

[snip] Intense bursts of X-rays and charged particles are emitted, as are nuclear fusion neutrons,[1] when operated using deuterium. There is ongoing research that demonstrates potential applications as a soft X-ray source[2] for next-generation microelectronics lithography, surface micromachining, pulsed X-ray and neutron source for medical and security inspection applications and materials modification,[3] among others... For nuclear weapons applications, dense plasma focus devices can be used as an external neutron source.[4] Other applications include simulation of nuclear explosions (for testing of the electronic equipment) and a short and intense neutron source useful for non-contact discovery or inspection of nuclear materials (uranium, plutonium). [/snip]

[muawiyah]

http://www.google.com/#hl=en&sugexp=les%3Beqn%2Crate_low%3D0.035%2Crate_high%3D0.035%2Cmin_length%3D2%2Ccconf%3D1.2%2Csecond_pass%3Dfalse%2Cnum_suggestions%3D1%2Cignore_bad_origquery%3Dtrue%2Conetoken%3Dfalse&gs_nf=3&gs_rn=0&gs_ri=hp&gs_mss=%22andrea%20rossi%22%20and%20%22Matteo%20Messina%20Denaro&cp=42&gs_id=3r&xhr=t&q=%22andrea%20rossi%22%20and%20%22Matteo%20Messina%20Denaro%22&pf=p&tbo=d&sclient=psy-ab&oq=%22andrea+rossi%22+and+%22Matteo+Messina+Denaro%22&gs_l=&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.1355325884,d.b2U&fp=58929b6891e33653&bpcl=39967673&biw=925&bih=450 ~ about 1200 stories in various periodicals where both Andrea Rossi and Matteo Messina Denaro are mentioned ~ but not quite in the same story. Rossi is pushing LENR, but Denaro owns and uses Windmills to launder Mafia money in Sicily. Rossi had an adversarial relationship with Denaro (aka dinodino?) earlier in his career ~ this is the guy who got him prosecute for waste oil pollution ~ had he but gone into windmills eh! My skepticism of the Rossi critics starts with Denaro ~ you really have to prove you have nothing to do with Denaro first.

[exDemMom]

~ about 1200 stories in various periodicals where both Andrea Rossi and Matteo Messina Denaro are mentioned ~ but not quite in the same story. Rossi is pushing LENR, but Denaro owns and uses Windmills to launder Mafia money in Sicily. Rossi had an adversarial relationship with Denaro (aka dinodino?) earlier in his career ~ this is the guy who got him prosecute for waste oil pollution ~ had he but gone into windmills eh! My skepticism of the Rossi critics starts with Denaro ~ you really have to prove you have nothing to do with Denaro first.

I've never heard of this Denaro. I don't need to. All I have to do is look at Rossi's behavior, and check what he says against actual scientific knowledge, and I have all the material I need to be critical of Rossi. Both his mannerisms and his grandiose claims are pretty typical con man behavior.

[muawiyah]

Denaro is the top mafioso in Sicily ~ which is no small fact. He’s been one of the big movers in the world of WINDMILLS. His reach extends all the way to America ~ these guys don’t like any competition.