[thackney]

Nuclear power plants use the heat from the reaction to generate steam to turn the turbine to generate electricity.

What benefit would cold fusion bring to the world if it did exist?

[Red Badger]

A larger “cold fusion” reactor could generate heat to power steam turbines without all that messy radiation and stuff like nuclear wastes.............;^)

[Phlyer]

What benefit would cold fusion bring to the world if it did exist?

The "cold" in cold fusion does not mean cold relative to room temperature. It means cold relative to stellar core temperatures. That can still be quite warm enough for our purposes.

It's hard to believe that a catalyst can both hold the deuterium tightly enough to force fusion, yet let it go at just the right point to allow it to fuse. I'll wait to see what other scientists come up with. On the surface, it sounds to me that they're getting a chemical reaction that's generating heat, not a nuclear reaction. The proof of true nuclear fusion will be when different elements (i.e. helium) and other reaction byproducts (e.g. neutrinos) are detected. The article said that they're producing helium, and if that holds true, then they have a good claim.

[Centurion2000]

What benefit would cold fusion bring to the world if it did exist?

The fuel is cheap as hell by comparison to oil or even plutonium. Fusion byproducts are usually a lot less radioactive as well.

I wonder if they got any radioactive byproducts?

[El Gato]

What benefit would cold fusion bring to the world if it did exist?

Lower ammounts of radioactive waste. And an easlier to obtain, but still not easy, fuel source.

Plus the scale might be such that "Mr. Fusion", that is a portable power source, might be possible. IOW, you might be able to power cars and trucks with it.

[JamesP81]

What benefit would cold fusion bring to the world if it did exist?

I think the idea isn't to have a fusion reaction that doesn't generate heat, but to have one that can be maintained at room temperature. As it is, the only large scale fusion reactors in use are hydrogen bombs, which require the detonation of an atomic bomb just to get the reaction started. I think the idea is to get a fusion reaction started without the whole nuclear blast thing.

[reg45]

What benefit would cold fusion bring to the world if it did exist?

We could tell the Jihadis to go scratch! Their oil would suddenly be worth as much as their sand!

[reg45]

What benefit would cold fusion bring to the world if it did exist?

We could tell the Jihadis to go scratch! Their oil would suddenly be worth as much as their sand!