COLD FUSION CONFUSION REIGNS IN WASHINGTON
By Stephen Kaplan (kap808@europa.com)
COLD FUSION CONFUSION REIGNS IN WASHINGTON By Stephen Kaplan (kap808@europa.com)
[Published in: The Oregonian, June 10, 1998]
President Clinton has expressed great concern about global warming and the long-term impact of the burning of fossil fuels on the environment. He claims that new energy technologies will help us move beyond our dependence on highly polluting ways of producing energy.
However, President Clinton is not receiving accurate advice from the Department of Energy (DOE) about one possible new source of clean energy: low-temperature nuclear reaction proceses (popularly known as "cold fusion").
In a recent letter to Congresswoman Elizabeth Furse, the Department claims that the reports of "anomalous excess energy and "anomalous nuclear effects" in cold fusion experiments have not been verified and that there is "no scientific evidence... that would suggest transmutation of radioactive materials can be achieved through low-temperature nuclear processes."....
There is a growing body of experimental evidence that indicates anomalous excess heat and transformation of elements are regular occurrences in cold fusion experiments. In thousands of experiments, credible researchers have immersed rods of palladium, nickel, and titanium in water, charged them with electricity and observed not only the byproducts of nuclear reactions, but also have seen more energy coming out of the reactions than it takes to create them..
This was confirmed by scientists gathered at the Seventh International Conference on Cold Fusion (ICCF-7) that was held in Vancouver, BC April 19-24, 1998. At that conference, Dr. Les Case, a New Hampshire engineer, shared his path-breaking research on a cold fusion cell that appears to dependably produce excess energy. Subsequent tests of that process by scientists at Cold Fusion Technology, Inc. verify his claims.
.... Moreover, there is also evidence that indicates that low-energy nuclear processes can transmute radioactive elements into non-radioactive substances. Two companies - CETI and the Cincinnati Group - have sold demonstration transmutation devices to other scientists. ... Moreover, the transmutation of radioactive elements by both of these devices has been independently confirmed by other laboratories.
Although the evidence for the reality of low-energy nuclear processes is being denied by the DOE, it has not escaped the attention of scientists advising foreign governments. Prominent scientists from Japan, China, Russia, Italy, France, Germany and other countries are involved in cold fusion research. ....
Unless President Clinton reaches out to get scientific counsel from a wide variety of advisors, he will not be able to develop a rational energy policy for the future. If the DOE has failed to provide balanced judgement regarding cold fusion research, in what other ways vital to national security and well-being might it [DOE] be misleading the President?
www.padrak.com/ine/NEN_6_3_4.html
July 30, 1998.