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Between November 27 and December 2, 2005, 107 scientists,
inventors, engineers, journalists, and students from nine countries
came together, to meet, socialize, and exchange ideas about cold
fusion (CF) and low-energy nuclear reactions (LENR), in Yokohama,
Japan during ICCF12–the twelfth of a series of international
conferences on condensed matter nuclear science. Twenty of the participants
were students, while the remaining 87 have been regularly involved
with the field. Not unexpectedly, of the people who have been regularly
involved, the greatest number (33) came from Japan. Twenty-two were
from the United States, ten from Russia, six from Italy and Israel,
five from Korea, two from France and China, and one from the Ukraine. In the past, these conferences have been referred
to as the International Conference on Cold Fusion (ICCF). However,
because the phrase "cold fusion" does not accurately describe
the relevant science, a decision was made by the local ICCF12 organizing
committee, in consultation with the International ICCF advisory
committee, that the acronym ICCF would continue to be used, but
the wording that would be used in conjunction with the acronym would
use the phrase "international conference on condensed matter
nuclear science," as opposed to "international conference
on cold fusion." Partly because of the location of ICCF10 (in Cambridge,
Massachusetts) and the venue (as an officially sponsored event at
MIT), larger amounts of funding from outside sources were required
in order for ICCF10 to take place than in the more recent ICCF conferences.
This also resulted in the potential for greater financial liability
by the conference organizers. As a consequence, when preliminary
plans for future ICCF conferences were formalized during ICCF10
and ICCF11, concerns were raised about funding the event, and no
particular group or individual from the United States expressed
an interest in sponsoring ICCF13, despite the fact that the informal
protocol that had been adopted (in which ICCF conferences had alternated
between Europe, Asia, and North America) would have required that
ICCF13 take place in North America. For this reason, during ICCF11 it was suggested that
it was not necessary to continue scheduling ICCF conferences based
on the existing idea of alternating the location of the conference;
so, though the existing agreement would have required that ICCF13
take place in North America, the ICCF advisory committee agreed
to an alternative plan: That ICCF13 be held in Russia, during the
Fall of 2006 or Spring of 2007. Consistent with the initial plan,
however, it was decided that ICCF12 be scheduled in Asia (in Japan)
during the fall of 2005, approximately 12 months after ICCF11, which
had taken place in Europe in the fall of 2004. During ICCF12, representatives of the Russian organizing
committee for ICCF13 presented preliminary plans, in which it was
suggested that it might be preferable to hold the conference in
October 2007. Concerns were expressed about the longer period of
time (~23 months) that would take place between ICCF conferences,
based on this plan. In particular, the International Advisory Committee
(IAC) recommended that ICCF13 take place within 18 months of ICCF12
(which would require that it take place during the spring or early
summer of 2007). Because the primary organizer of the Russian effort,
Yuri Bazhutov, was unable to attend ICCF12, it was not possible
to finalize the schedule for ICCF13. However, the IAC did consider
an alternative proposal, proposed by Professor David Nagel (of George
Washington University) that was consistent with the guideline of
requiring that the conference occur before the late spring or early
summer of 2007 and that the subsequent ICCF conference (ICCF14)
take place 12 to 18 months after ICCF13. In particular, Professor
Nagel proposed that if it does not appear to be feasible for the
Russian group to host ICCF13 before October 2007, the Russian group
might consider hosting ICCF14 a year later (October 2008), while
he would organize ICCF13 for late spring or early summer 2007, in
Washington, D.C. Because the idea of holding ICCF13 in Europe (Russia)
or Asia (as opposed to North America) had resulted from a tentative
modification of the initial protocol, members of the IAC were not
adverse to an alternative proposal (consistent with the initial
protocol), calling for it to take place in North America. However, it was decided that Professor Takahashi formally
communicate with Yuri Bazhutov and the local organizing committee
from Russia by the end of February 2006 about the discussions that
had taken place. In particular, the IAC requested that Professor
Takahashi point out that the consensus by the IAC was that ICCF13
be scheduled for the spring or early Summer of 2007 and that (as
a result of cost, weather, and/or related or additional factors)
if an alternative, later time in the calendar year (late summer
or early fall) is possibly viewed as preferable in order for it
to be held in Russia by the Russian committee, that the committee
consider the alternative proposal that they delay hosting an ICCF
event until ICCF14, at a time between 12 and 18 months after an
ICCF13 meeting in Washington, D.C. The formal program for ICCF12 is available at numerous
sites on the internet: www.iscmns.org, www.iccf12.org, and www.newenergytimes.com/Conf/ICCF12/ICCF12.htm.
Because significant progress in explaining and documenting a number
of phenomena related to experiments–and in the evolution of
experimental techniques that are being employed–has taken
place, important information was presented in the oral sessions.
As a consequence, these sessions were more focused than in previous
ICCF conferences. In particular, speculative talks were presented
at the end of the final complete day of the conference, on Thursday,
December 1, and during the morning session on Friday, December 2.
The remaining talks covered areas that either have been presented
before or involved closely related research. These talks focused
on existing, ongoing research programs, or work that has evolved
over many years. The program began with a tutorial class on November
27, in which a reasonably well-understood topic (Nuclear Effects
in Heavy-Water Systems) was presented by Vittorio Violante, from
ENEA, Frascati (Italy), followed by talks by George Miley, Yasuhiro
Iwamura, and Akito Takahashi involving newer topics, respectively
associated with: 1) Potential Nuclear Effects in "Ordinary
Water"; 2) Analyses of Alternative, Potential Sets of Room
Temperature Nuclear Processes ("Analyses in Transmutation Experiments"),
and 3) a relatively new theory, titled "Fusion Rate Formulas
for Bosonized Condensates." During the next four days, presentations focused on
excess heat accompanied by 4He (morning and late afternoon
of November 28), transmutation (morning and late afternoon of November
29), nuclear physics effects and approaches (morning of November
30), material science and excess heat (morning of December 1), and
excess heat (early afternoon of December 1). During the late afternoon
of December 1, topics related to more "conventional" forms
of excess heat were also presented, but two additional talks that
seem to be related to conventional nuclear physics were presented. As opposed to most of the recent ICCF conferences,
in which the length of time allotted for each invited oral presentation
has varied considerably (between 60 minutes for the longest talks
and 15 minutes for the shortest talks), the organizers of ICCF12
allotted 30 minutes for each invited talk. These talks were presented
each morning and in the late afternoon. People who have been involved
with the field or who have suggested potentially useful new ideas
gave the invited talks. Poster sessions were scheduled between 2:00
and 3:00 each afternoon. Between 1:30 and 2:00 each afternoon, each
poster presenter was allowed to give a short (3 minute) synopsis
of the ideas associated with the poster. Additional
Information and Availability of the Proceedings ICCF12 was sponsored by the International Society
for Condensed Matter Nuclear Science (ISCMNS), the Thermal and Electric
Energy Technology Foundation (TEET), and the Japan Coherent Fusion
Research Society (JCF). Consistent with ICCF10 and ICCF11, the organizers
of ICCF12 intend to publish a conference Proceedings, through World
Scientific. It is possible to obtain a DVD from the ISCMNS that
contains approximately half of the ICCF12 invited talks. A pdf file
of one of the more important talks, presented by Yoshiaki Arata,
is available on-line (www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/ArataYdevelopmenb.pdf). General
Comments on the Conference During ICCF12, new evidence was presented that supports
an intuitive idea that, beginning as long ago as 1996, has been
postulated as being important for initiating excess heat (and possibly
other effects): The potential role of crystal size in initiating
excess heat and the possibility that excess heat might be triggered
more rapidly in smaller crystals. An additional, potentially important
theme of a number of talks involved simplifying the loading process
by using gas- (as opposed to electrolytic-) loading of deuterium
(D) into Pd and (in the case of glow discharge experiments) other
metals. Both themes appear to be related to a more general trend:
Attempts to simplify particular protocols for initiating excess
heat and to understand potential triggering mechanisms. In particular,
innovative ideas were presented for overcoming many of the pitfalls
and difficulties associated with conventional electrolysis. As a
consequence, results from a number of new, novel, simplified procedures
involving gas-loading, low power glow discharge, and modified forms
of electrolysis (solid, basic, or acidic) were presented, in which
one or more problems associated with the conventional Pons-Fleischmann
electrolytic loading procedures were eliminated. Results associated with experiments involving potential
transmutations also were presented. However, with the exception
of the work by Vladimir Vysotskii and his collaborators, involving
possible transmutations in living organisms, these presentations
focused primarily on efforts to reproduce or understand the results
of Iwamura et al. Thus, as opposed to the situation during
ICCF11 and ICCF10, in which a number of untested ideas and experiments
were presented concerning possible transmutations, during ICCF12
the associated results were considerably more focused. A number of additional, novel results involving alternative
forms of loading and higher energy effects were presented, including
a presentation that summarized an episode involving an explosion,
associated with a glow discharge experiment (reported by Tadahiko
Mizuno), and experiments in which high energy alpha particle and
proton emission were observed after hydrogen (H) or deuterium (D)
is gas-loaded into Pd/PdO compounds (reported by Andrei Lipson and
Alexi Roussetski) and the emission of coherent X-rays, during high-current
glow discharge experiments (reported by Alexander Karabut). Important
Excess Heat/Helium Experiments Yoshiaki Arata presented the most important talk of
ICCF12. In it, he described an important breakthrough, involving
a variant of the conventional "double-structure" (DS)
cell that he and Y-C. Zhang used previously to produce excess heat,
helium-4, and helium-3 (Proc. Jap. Acad. B, 73, 62-7 (1997),
Proc. Jap. Acad. B, 73, 1-6 (1997)), involving gas- (as opposed
to electrolytic-) loading. An important observation, which helped
them make this breakthrough, is that the key heat-producing reaction
takes place in regions that contain smaller (Pd-black) particles
that were separated from the portions of their cells that involved
electrolysis. They also made a second important observation, involving
the identification of a protocol, from their initial DS cell work:
That it is possible to create extremely high pressures of D2
gas (> 10,000 atmospheres) electrolytically, in regions that
are not directly related to the production of heat. These observations enabled Arata and Zhang to distinguish
between the process of effectively creating an electrolytic pump
for loading D2 gas into a particular region of space
(which they inferred from the behavior of their DS cathode) from
the process of creating excess heat. In particular, they used the
associated pump to load D2 gas into chambers containing
Pd-black and other (nano-scale) forms of Pd. They found that the
(smaller) nano-scale dimension materials triggered heat production
considerably more effectively. The next most important results were presented in
two related presentations, associated with work at the Israeli company
Energetics, Ltd. and the Italian IFN Laboratory, ENEA, Frascati.
In the first of these talks, Arik El-Boher from Energetics provided
a detailed discussion of new results associated with a loading technique,
described initially at ICCF10 and subsequently at ICCF11, that apparently
also can be used to create excess heat in a nearly reproducible
fashion. The innovative step in their work that appears to make
this possible involves a form of non-linear pulsing of the applied
voltages that are used to load the electrode (either in electrolytic
loading or in glow discharge experiments). Apparently, as opposed to using either standing waves
or a constant, DC applied voltage, by creating a non-linear, superposition
of different waves during the pulsing process, many different frequencies
are constructed and used to force D into a Pd substrate electrolytically
or (in glow-discharge experiments) in an ionized, gaseous form (which
is created by passing currents through a D+ plasma), into a Pd metal
substrate. The associated waves (which El-Boher has referred to
in the past as "Super-Waves") impart momentum to the heavy
water (D+ plasma) in the electrolytic (and/or glow-discharge) experiments,
in a time-dependent manner that includes many different frequency
components. Empirically, the Israeli group has found the "Super-Waves"
appear to induce considerable variations in loading, and it is possible
to obtain high loading in tens of seconds electrolytically (as opposed
to loading times of tens to hundreds of hours that are frequently
required in more conventional, electrolytic procedures). Both during
ICCF11 and ICCF12, in the electrolytic experiments, the Israeli
group also reported large amounts of excess power (in which output
power is as much as 25 times larger than input power), and the phenomenon
of "heat after death" (in which excess power continues,
in the absence of an electrolyte). During ICCF11, El-Boher reported
that they had found tritium in one of their electrolytic experiments.
During ICCF12, El-Boher reported significant improvements in their
ability to reproduce excess heat. In particular, he reported that
they could reproduce excess heat, effectively, with an efficiency
of approximately 80% (eight out of ten times). Beginning during
ICCF11, and continuing to the present time, Energetics has been
involved with collaborations involving the Italian IFN Laboratory,
ENEA, Frascati, and SRI. In particular, Energetics has been using
electrodes that were provided by Vittorio Violante from IFN, ENEA
Frascati, Italy (http://www.frascati.enea.it/nhe/index-eng.htm). Underlying much of the successful effort at ENEA for
creating excess heat (which they claim they are now able to produce
100% of the time, provided particular criteria are satisfied) is
a research strategy that is based on the assumption that it is necessary
to understand important attributes of the materials (and the associated
material science) and behavior of the electrolytic cells in order
to reproduce the associated effect. For this reason, at ENEA, scientists
have performed detailed analyses of the material properties and
structure of the electrode materials that are used in their experiments. Vittorio Violante, who is the senior scientist associated
with the work, described the efforts to understand materials preparation
during ICCF11, and an analysis of the thermal transport properties
of their cells during ICCF12. The associated analysis and measurements
are being carried out at the official ENEA Cold Fusion Laboratory.
In particular, during ICCF11 Violante emphasized that to reproducibly
generate excess heat, it is necessary to understand the conditions
for reproducibly achieving high loading. He also emphasized that
the conditions for achieving high loading in deuterated metals:
1) Are controlled by equilibrium and non-equilibrium phenomena;
and 2) Are impeded by self-induced stress, resulting from concentration
gradients in deuterium at the surface, during loading, which can
significantly reduce deuterium solubility and, as a consequence,
reduce loading. Since ICCF11, considerable progress has been made
in actually simulating the heat flux and thermal diffusion in their
cells, including a detailed analysis of the electrolyte-surface
interface of the electrolytic cells, based on a two fluid model,
involving different fluid densities and viscosities, within the
context of a steady state limit, with negligible changes in mass
and pressure at the interface. These efforts have demonstrated the
importance of including a realistic model of the fluid dynamics
at the interface and have provided a procedure for understanding
the effects of changes in the surface environment on the behavior
of their cells. A major focus of the ENEA materials research effort
has been to identify procedures (for example, annealing and cold-working
the materials at particular temperatures) for minimizing self-induced
stress. During ICCF12, Violante showed a new "double-structure"
cell for producing excess heat, using laser irradiation (at 690
nm wavelength). In particular, similar
to results obtained by other groups and reported during ICCF10 and
ICCF11, Violante et al. have found they can trigger excess
heat by optically irradiating their electrodes with a laser, at
relatively low (33 mW) power, tuned to a particular (.635 micron)
frequency. (They also alternately switched the current, and loading,
between higher and lower values.) After applying these stimuli,
they were able to obtain excess heat each time, during each of three
experiments during ICCF11. During ICCF12, Violante provided additional
details associated with work with the new cell. They found that
the amount of extra 4He and excess heat in each of these
experiments is consistent with a result found at SRI (and elsewhere):
That the amount of additional (excess) heat energy that is observed
equals one to two times the amount of energy that results from the
product of the total number of additional 4He atoms that are observed
outside the electrode with the energy release (23.8 MeV) that would
occur if all of the energy associated with the d+d -->
4He fusion reaction is converted directly into heat.
(At SRI, Mike McKubre and his co-workers have shown that, depending
on the material properties of the electrodes that are used in electrolytic
experiments, the excess heat can be expected to be larger than the
amount associated with 4He, found outside the electrode,
because an approximately comparable amount of 4He can
be expected to remain trapped inside the cathode.) An additional interesting, new result associated with
excess heat was reported by John Dash, involving additions of small
amounts of Ti into an acidic solution (H2O+H2SO4)
that was used during the electrolysis (by Pd) in a novel configuration
of the form, Pt|H2O+H2SO4|Pd. In
particular, the introduction of small amounts of Ti led to excess
heat. Important
Transmutation Presentations Yasuhiro Iwamura (Mitsubishi Heavy Industries) presented
more data on transmutations of Cs to Pr, Ba to Sm, and Sr to Mo.
Because the amounts of material are small, it is essential that
careful experiments be conducted using sufficient X-ray fluxes to
insure that quantitative bounds can be established for the associated
changes in composition. Iwamura partially confirmed that these kinds
of studies are being conducted, using X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry,
at the Spring-8 synchrotron facility. These XRF studies included
a detailed analysis of surface morphology using the Spring-8 synchrotron
microbeam (defined by an initial 100 x 100 micron, resolution, image),
analyzed with varying degrees of resolution and XRF spectra. The
"apparent" transmutations occurred in small concentrated
sites within this image. An important point is that the most compelling
evidence for transmutation in these experiments is the near simultaneous
appearance of new elements (for example, Pr in the Cs --> Pr
case, and Mo in the Sr --> Mo case), accompanied by the depletion
of elements (Cs and Sr), involving a reduction of four protons and
four neutrons. Although the work involving XRF spectra did not precisely
mimic the earlier X-ray photoemission studies, the distribution
of potential by-products occurred at particular locations that are
difficult to explain, based on a quasi-random model of impurity
diffusion. Thus, although the associated findings were not conclusive,
they were quite convincing in suggesting that nuclear transmutations
were involved. The Iwamura team also found evidence for La also
being produced in the Cs--> Pr experiment. Variants of this approach were presented by Narita,
A. Kitamura, and H. Yamada. Although Narita and Yamada were unable
to "reproduce" the Iwamura effect precisely, part of the
reason for this probably involved differences in the procedures
that were used. Yamada seems to have included an important step
involving the use of a composite multi-layer, structure, including
CaO, layers. Yamada also included Cs, on Pd, in a manner that appeared
to be similar to the Iwamura work. However, high pressure D2
was used. It also is not clear if the loading was performed at the
same temperature (70°) that was used by Iwamura. The procedures
followed by Narita deviated even more significantly from the procedures
used by Iwamura. In particular, as opposed to using a flux of D2,
at room temperature in a quasi-equilibrium situation, Narita and
co-workers performed discharge experiments (with energies <~10
keV). They also used a Pd/CaO/Pd sandwich structure for their cathode,
but, again, their detailed procedure was significantly different
from the procedure followed by Iwamura. Thus, although in both the
Yamada et al. and Narita et al. experiments evidence
of anomalous elements appearing in their electrodes was found, the
findings deviated significantly from those obtained by Iwamura et
al. An important point is that the most convincing results
from the Iwamura et al. work resulted from the X-ray photoemission
spectra. In particular, these results show, effectively, that a
significant correlation occurs between the appearance of new material
(Pr or Mo) and the disappearance of material (Cs or Sr) initially
present at the surface of the Pd. Neither Narita et al. or
Yamada et al. presented results that are as convincing. In
particular, in both of these newer experiments, the possibility
that forms of impurity migration might account for their transmutation
claims can not be ruled out. An important reason for the very different
results found in both experiments involves the very different procedures
that they used, and both of these procedures also deviated significantly
from the procedures followed by Iwamura. In a poster presentation, Kitamura (Kobe University)
also reported results from experiments involving attempts to reproduce
the Iwamura et al. effects. In their work, a number of additional
probes using higher energy particles were used (including Rutherford
backscatter spectra, for example), in addition to X-ray photoemission
spectra (XPS). Tom Dolan reported that this group claimed to see
a form of transmutation of Sr into Mo, similar to one of the transmutation
effects observed by Iwamura. In the abstract to the meeting, Kitamura
reported that preliminary work involved placing the Cs on the opposite
side (away from the D2). Dolan reported that in their
poster they had repeated the experiments using Sr, with Sr-coated
films, also placed on the vacuum side and that they found evidence
of the same kind of effect (associated with Sr) in which the number
of Sr atoms is reduced (atom-for-atom, within the accuracy of the
measurements) as the number of Mo atoms increases, which suggests
that the same kind of reaction that was observed in the Iwamura
work is taking place, in which Sr is converted into Mo through the
addition of four protons and four neutrons (possibly involving four
deuterons): Sr+4p+4n--> Mo. Irina Savvatimova (LUCH Institute, Podolsk, Russia)
reported a number of remarkable results from low-energy plasma glow
discharge experiments (with 300-1,000 voltages and 5-150 mA current)
involving H and D ions. The results included correlation with potential
transmutations and the location of particular "hot spots"
on the surfaces of the electrodes. She found "enormous"
deviations in the isotopic ratios from those that naturally occur
for Mg, Si, K, S, Ca, and Fe after D glow discharge in Pd and evidence
that irradiation in the discharge induces structural/mechanical
impurity increases. Particle
Emission Studies In the past, J. Kasagi has found unexpectedly large
fusion rates and cross-sections in experiments involving collisions
that result when lower energy (<10 keV) deuterons (d’s)
collide with Ti targets that contain D. During ICCF12, he discussed
new results associated with d+d reactions in different materials
and evidence for multi-body d+d+d reactions. The new solids included
Pd and PdO, and new Li+D reactions in Pd, PdO, and Au (Kasagi et
al., J. Phys. Soc. Jpn., 73 (2004) 608), at lower (~1
KeV) energies than those that are used in most conventional nuclear
fusion experiments. His group also investigated Li+D reactions in
solid, liquid, and gaseous forms of Li. He began by providing some
background about his previous work involving D+D reactions in metals.
In particular, he previously found that the D+D nuclear fusion reaction
rate in metals can be strongly enhanced, in some cases by as much
as a factor of ~100, at incident, kinetic energies of ~1 KeV. The
enhancement implies a considerably larger screening energy, V. (He
has found that V can be as large as 300 eV.) He suggested that this extrapolation (based on the
standard Gamow tunneling model) to the larger screening energies
implies that in the limit of vanishing incident kinetic energy,
fusion rates per unit volume could be as large as 109
cc/sec. His motivation for investigating D+Li (as opposed to D+D)
was to see how the presence of a target (Li) with a higher atomic
number in the metal potentially could alter the screening energy.
He found that when D ions bombard Pd-Li or Au-Li alloys, the Li+D
screening energy is significantly enhanced, as in the D+D case,
but he has been able to perform the extrapolation (and scaling)
only qualitatively. Kasahi offered a number of speculations about the
physics associated with his observations. In particular, he suggested
that the D within the target might have appreciable momentum, possibly
through an effective form of coherence, which he suggested could
result in the D’s effectively behaving as if they have an
extremely "heavy mass." He said that the largest effect
occurred in PdO. He emphasized the fact that more precise information
(potentially through a multiple-scattering analysis) about the behavior
of the target nuclei is required and that studies of similar collisions
in many different host materials, at these energies, are required
to gain some understanding of the underlying phenomena. Andrei Lipson and Alexi Roussetski presented remarkable
results, in which potential high energy proton and alpha particle
emission was observed in experiments involving H- and D-desorption
from PdO/Pd hetero-structures. In particular, through a novel analysis
of the time history of track etching in CR-39 detectors that were
used to detect particles potentially emitted from the PdO/Pd samples
and from comparable etchings observed after the detectors were exposed
to well-calibrated sources of alpha particles and protons, Roussetski
unambiguously demonstrated that he could identify alpha emissions
from the samples, possessing energies between 11 and 16 MeV and
proton emissions with energies between 1 and 1.5 MeV. Using the
same kind of technique, but with D (as opposed to H) desorption,
in addition to finding 11-16 MeV alpha particle emission, Lipson
found a "highly reproducible signal involving protons"
but at a different energy (~3 MeV) which is consistent with the
proton emission that is expected in the conventional (hot fusion)
d+d --> t+p reaction. As alluded to above, Tadahiko Mizuno (Hokkaido University)
described the history and effects involved with a particular glow
discharge experiment that apparently led to a form of non-linear,
run-away event, in which the cathode overheated and exploded. He
inferred, from details associated with the explosion, that from
an initial energy of 300 J, the discharge induced energy (in the
form output heat plus explosion energy) of approximately 0.24 MJ.
Although it was difficult to isolate potential artifacts involving
possible migration of material from regions external to the experiment
and from materials that could be relevant to transmutation reactions
associated with the experiment, as a result of the explosion, he
inferred that anomalous deposits of Ca, S, and other elements appeared
on his tungsten cathode, distributed in a manner that was similar
to the way other anomalous materials were distributed in some of
his earlier experiments. As in most situations involving LENR, he
observed no appreciable radioactivity or high energy particles. Glow
Discharge/Gas-Loading Experiments There were a number of glow discharge experiments,
besides the ones that were conducted by Energetics and Mizuno. Domenico
Cirillo, Alessandro Dattilo, and V. Iorio (from Italy) gave a talk
in which they suggested that there were a number of transmutations
(Re, Os, Au, Tl, Tm, Hf, Yb, Er, Ca) in their glow discharge experiments
(similar to Mizuno’s), involving a plasma formed from a normal
water/K2CO3 electrolyte, between a W cathode
and a K anode. Thomas Benson and Thomas Passell (both of D2 Fusion,
Inc.) presented preliminary results in a poster and in a talk associated
with using glow discharge devices. In the poster, a particular device
modeled after the ones used by Energetics to obtain excess heat
was presented, involving cathodes made from various metals and a
variety of nano-scale structures formed from the materials. In the
talk, Tom Passell described a new, simplified glow discharge device,
involving small (.69 W) input power with slightly greater (.79 W)
output power, discharged in a low pressure (2-20 T) D2
gas. In additional work on glow-discharge, reported by Tom Dolan,
a poster was presented by V.A. Romadonov (LUCH Research Institute,
Podolsk, Russia), in which attempts were made to find gamma ray
and neutron emission from a glow discharge device. In their experiments,
they used procedures that they have published in papers at www.lenr-canr.org.
Not unexpectedly, they found no evidence of "fast" or
"slow" neutrons. They speculated they had observed gamma
rays from a potential transmutation of 55Mn to 56Mn. Alexander Karabut (also from the LUCH Research Institute)
presented two posters involving glow discharge experiments. In the
first poster, he described experiments, carried out over a long
period of time, involving discharges of either H2 or
D2 in the presence of an isolated Pd cathode, or discharges
of noble gases (Ar, Xe, or Kr) in the presence of Pd that has been
previously charged with D, using pulsed currents (up to 500 mA)
and discharge voltages between 500-2,500 V, with cathode samples
of Pd, in which the pulse period, pulse duration, and value of discharge
current were changed. Also, in these experiments, initial, gas pressures
up to 10 Torr were used. He found excess power (10 — 15 W)
with an efficiency (ratio of output power/input power) of ~150%,
using a Pd cathode and D2 discharge. He also found that
the discharge process released as much as ~5 W excess power with
an efficiency of ~150% by discharging Xe, using Pd that had been
previously charged with D. In his second poster, Karabut described similar experiments,
in which H2, D2, or Kr2 was discharged
in the presence of a number of different cathode samples (made from
Al, Sc, Ti, Ni, Nb, Zr, Mo, Pd, Ta, W, Pt), again with pulsed currents
(again up to 500 mA) and discharge voltages in the same (500-2,500
V) range. In an invited talk (alluded to above), he observed X-rays
that apparently were being created through processes that were initiated
during the discharge process but persisted for periods as long as
0.1 s after the discharge current had been turned off. The associated
process appears to result in the generation of coherent "beams"
of X-rays (104 beams per second and 109 photons
per beam) that he suggests involve a form of X-ray lasing phenomenon.
(He explicitly referred to the beams as being the output of an X-ray
laser.) Additional
Gas-Loading Experiments Xing Zhong Li (Tsinghua University) presented a talk
in which he described gas-loading experiments performed in his group,
involving fluxes of D2 alone or diffuse mixtures of D2/H2
into a small Pd disk (similar to the kind of disk used in the Iwamura
experiments). This work was motivated by an early publication by
C. Fralick (from Nasa Lewis, in December 1989), in which it was
reported that in gas-loading experiments, involving D2
in Pd at elevated temperatures (~380°C), excess heat was produced
when a net flux of D2 gas passes through the Pd. The
gas is loaded into the Pd from either of two external regions in
Li’s and Fralick’s experiments. (As in the Iwamura experiments,
the Pd disk is placed along the boundary between two distinctly
different volumes of gas.) Effectively, a net flux of D2
passes from one external region to the other after each D2
molecule dissociates at one side of the Pd, moves through the Pd,
and recombines after it leaves the other side of the Pd. The amount
and direction of the flux is controlled by differences in temperature
or pressure between the two external regions. By changing the amount
of D2 in the different regions, as a result of passing
the gas through the Pd, it was possible to initiate excess heat.
In particular, by reducing the pressure and externally-applied heat,
it was found that the temperature of the sample would actually increase.
(In the absence of LENR, such an increase in temperature violates
the second law of thermodynamics.) Li and his group repeated a similar
experiment and have documented their results (J. Phys. D: Appl.
Phys., 36, 3095 (2003)). Besides finding excess heat, Li reported
that they also looked for tritium. Preliminary results suggest tritium
may have been produced. Andrei Lipson reported additional results involving
loading and deloading of H into PdO that indicate the onset of a
potential 70°K (and possibly higher temperature) form of superconductivity.
The experiments involved thin PdO films that were cyclically loaded
and deloaded with small amounts of H. In particular, beginning from
thin (12.5 micron) Pd foils in the presence of thermally adsorbed
O, Lipson repetitively introduced and removed residual H from the
sample electrolytically. Typical loading involved values of x~0.003
(in PdHxO). Here, through the electrolytic recycling
process, it was possible to infer that some of the residual H was
trapped in deep, dislocation core sites. In particular, precision
measurements of the quantity of residual H that remained trapped
in the sample were performed, in a high vacuum. From detailed analyses
of the temperature dependence of the deloading process, it was possible
to estimate the desorption energy required to release the H. In
particular, a significant amount was released at 430° (corresponding
to a desorption energy of ~0.05 eV). Standard metallurgical arguments
were used to infer that locally within each dislocation core, high
loading (x~1.8 in PdHx) took place. Measurements of resistance and
magnetic susceptibility were performed that confirmed that a form
of diamagnetic response and conductivity were present that are consistent
with the onset of a form of type-II superconductivity at 70°K, through
a highly anisotropic form of conduction (and electron-phonon coupling). Other
Loading Experiments Motivated partly by Arata’s suggestion that
nano-scale materials could be important, and partly by the possibility
that similar nano-structures might be playing a role in the Iwamura
transmutation experiments, Francesco Celani and his collaborators
(Frascati, Italy) developed a procedure for creating extremely thin
(~nano-scale like) silicate coatings on "thin" (50 micron)
Pd wires by immersing a PdO wire (formed by effectively annealing
Pd in air) in a colloidal silica. The resulting structures were
capable of achieving high loading in very short times (~hundreds
of seconds). The associated analysis has provided an important guideline
for achieving high-loading, using simpler procedures, involving
particular (alternative) choices of electrolyte. Mike McKubre (SRI) clarified the history of a particular
technique of measuring loading of D into Pd that he and his collaborators
at SRI have used to establish a correlation between high loading
(x>0.85, in PdDx) and excess heat. In particular,
initially the importance of high loading in cold fusion was inferred
from measurements of the net increase of mass that occurs with loading,
as well as the relatively new, alternative form of measurement that
SRI developed, which involves measurements of changes in resistance
of applied current, as a function of loading. The SRI procedure
is based on the observation that the conduction in PdDx decreases
with increasing values of x until a peak value of the resistance
R is obtained (referred to as the Baranowski Peak–a term that
McKubre coined during ICCF4, in 1993), which occurs near the optimal
equilibrium loading of H (x=0.4) or D (x=0.6) into Pd, followed
by a decline in R that appears to approach an asymptotic limit (near
x=1) in which the values of R (in PdD) approach the value of the
resistance Ro of Pd. Although this measurement procedure,
which appeared to be reasonable at the time it was first introduced,
had not been used previously, no one seriously questioned how it
was discovered or its accuracy. In fact, the associated measurement procedure evolved
from a relatively new idea that was actually based on a working
hypothesis that McKubre (and his collaborators at SRI) formulated
during the early 1990s. After the fact, not only has this relationship
been accepted, loading measurements based on this procedure have
proven to be more useful (for predicting the onset of excess heat)
than other, alternative procedures (for example, through measurements
of changes in mass). However, it was not at all obvious when McKubre
and his collaborators used this hypothesis, initially, that it would
be so useful. The initial SRI model for measuring loading, using
the ratio, R/Ro, was based on an approximate calibration
curve, inferred from a "best guess" of the loading that
is required to maximize R/Ro and a second estimate of
the magnitude of the corresponding (peak) value of R/Ro.
(At the time that loading measurements were presented for the first
time, during ICCF4, using this procedure, measurements of R/Ro
as function of loading, x, had been performed for values of x above
and below the value where R/Ro has its maximum value.
But the values of x and R/Ro at the maximum had not been
determined.) But the SRI group inferred from the relatively new
idea developed by Baranowski (J. Less Mommon Met., 158. 347
(1990)), for measuring loading in PdH, using R/Ro, that
a similar procedure probably could be used to measure loading of
D in PdDx. And they used this procedure to infer that
high-loading (x>0.85 in PdDx) was necessary in order
to create excess heat. Subsequently, additional work performed by
McKubre and his group at SRI (S. Crouch-Baker et al., Z.
fur Physikalische Chemie, 204, S. 247-254 (1998)) refined the
earlier calibration curve. On the final day of ICCF12, Jean-Paul Biberian described
a new form of excess heat experiment involving electrolysis of deuterated
phosphoric acid with Pd electrodes, using a solid state electrolyte
in deuterium gas. As in Li’s earlier talk, the underlying
idea that motivated this work was the NASA Lewis 1989 report by
Fralick (C. Fralick, NASA Technical Memorandum, 102430, December
1989). Innovative
Energy Solutions Incorporated (iESi) On December 1, Steve Krivit (New Energy Times)
gave a talk, in which he described new technology that is being
developed by a new company, Innovative Energy Solutions, Incorporated
(iESi). In particular, employees of iESi claim they have produced
large amounts of excess power and energy from an unknown, new process
that other scientists have suggested might be related to LENR and
to cold fusion. Krivit, who is a scientific journalist, visited
iESi at the time of a meeting involving iESi scientists and a number
of prominent scientists from the LENR community. During the meeting,
which took place in July 2005 in Edmonton, Alberta, iESi scientists
gave a demonstration of their process. Steve Krivit made a video
of portions of the demo, which he showed during his talk. Immediately
following Krivit’s presentation, Vladimir Vysotskii presented
a working hypothesis of the physical effects associated with the
process: That the excess heat is the result of some form of reaction
in which a single proton combines with 11B to form three
4He nuclei. Although inconsistent with conventional nuclear
physics, this reaction is not forbidden. Krivit also identified
the key group of scientists, including Hyunik Yang and A. Koldomasov,
associated with the iESi effort. The basic claim by this group is that it is possible
to create excess power from a mechanical cavitation process that
forces oil through a nozzle into a confined space that directly
creates large amounts of electricity through cavitation. One claim
is that the output power from this process, which is as much as
100,000 times as great as the output power from any LENR experiment,
does include excess power. But the input power is also considerably
larger (~20,000-100,000 times larger) than any input power that
has been used previously in any LENR experiment. Because of the
large amounts of power that are used, it is difficult to determine
if excess power is really being produced. Prior to the conference,
rumors about the claims by iESi spread throughout the cold fusion
community and were mentioned in the popular press. But no formal
presentations had been given, prior to Krivit’s talk at an
earlier scientific meeting, associated with the iESi results. To
date, iESi has not provided data, including measurements of heat
or a potential nuclear by-product, published information about their
data or process in the open scientific literature or in patents,
presented information about their process at scientific meetings,
or (even informally) distributed information about their process
to individuals who have not signed a non-disclosure agreement with
iESi. In response to Krivit’s videotape, Tom Dolan
provided the following narrative: "A boron-doped oil at 30
atm appeared to have a color that is tawny; and that at over 40
atm, it is white; while at over 60 atm it is clear, with a plasma
jet downstream of the orifice. At 70-80 atm, there is a bright blue
beam 6 mm in diameter, and at over 90 atm a green glow appears upstream
of the orifice. Hard X-rays were observed from the luminous region.
The researchers claim that excess heat is generated from fusion
reactions (possibly protons plus boron-11) during the collapse of
cavitation bubbles, and they [claim to have] detected He-4 emission
lines from the cavitating fluid." Martin Fleischmann attended the July demonstration.
Afterwards, I asked him what he thought about the process. He said,
"There were a lot of sparks." And by inference, I think
he was suggesting in this comment that it was not clear at all if
anything in the iESi process involved LENR, including the creation
of excess heat through a process that does not result in the emission
of high energy particles. It is conceivable that a more conventional
form of nuclear reaction (involving gamma ray or other high energy
particle emission) might be initiated through the process. In response to the video, however, Talbot Chubb was
skeptical about this possibility. In particular, Talbot Chubb pointed
out that because of the large amounts of electricity that were being
produced, he was suspicious about comments made by one of the iESi
scientists concerning gamma rays. In particular, the scientist suggested
that when a particular gamma ray detector was moved away from the
location where the process was assumed to be taking place, the detector
indicated a reduction in gamma ray flux. Talbot Chubb suggested
an alternative possibility: That the large electrical fields that
were being produced through the process could trigger cascade effects
in the semi-conductors in the detector that could result in spurious
signals in the detector, associated with electrical noise, as opposed
to gamma rays. The slide presentation of Steve Krivit is available
at http://newenergytimes.com/Library/2005KrivitS-ICCF12-Presentation.pdf.
A 20-minute video file of the talk can also be downloaded, requiring
Windows Media Player: http://interface.audiovideoweb.com/lnk/ca25win25198/ICCF12/KRIVIT-ICCF12.wmv/play.asx. Theory As in the past, I have decided that it would be inappropriate
for me to comment on theory, except to suggest that progress is
being made. I do this not only because I have been involved in a
personal way with a particular theory, but also because in the limited
space that is available, I really could not do justice to the excellent
work that has taken place in this area. I do note in passing, however,
that Akito Takahashi did provide a nice review of the existing ideas
that appear to have value and his assessment will probably appear
in the Proceedings of ICCF12. I did provide a very limited assessment
in the report (Technical Report 1862, Space Warfare Systems, Center,
available at www.lenr-canr.org) that describes my ideas of what
might be appropriate in a useful theory of LENR. Conclusion/Acknowledgement It is too early to judge how and to what degree this
particular conference will affect cold fusion and LENR. However,
it is clear that the information presented during ICCF12 and in
the ICCF12 Proceedings will have an impact. Within this context,
it is especially nice to identify, acknowledge, and thank people
who have helped to alter the dynamic associated with discussions
of this highly controversial area of science, including all of the
participants of ICCF10, ICCF11, and ICCF12. I would also like to
acknowledge financial assistance from Talbot Chubb and the New Energy
Foundation, which enabled me to attend ICCF12. I would also like
to thank my wife, Anne Pond, for allowing me to attend the conference,
during an especially stressful time for our family. I would also
like to thank Tom Dolan for providing a copy of a travel report
that he prepared, which included useful information that I have
included in this article, and Steve Krivit for providing photographs
and additional material.  Copyright © 2014-2015. All rights reserved. E-mail: staff@infinite-energy.com |
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