determine whether there is a scientific case for continued efforts in these studies and, if so, to identify the most promising areas to be pursued. Copies of the charge letter and accompanying instructions regarding conflict of interest and confidentiality are attached (Attachment 2).
Review Document and Presentations
The review document submitted (Attachment 1) focused on “a subset of research from two areas” in the field of low energy nuclear reactions: (1) “selected issues associated with excess heat production in deuterated metals” and (2) “some aspects of nuclear emissions from deuterated metals.” According to the review document, D-D fusion has been demonstrated to occur spontaneously when D is introduced into Pd metal at very high concentrations (D/Pd ~ 0.95). According to the review document, these demonstrations include purported production of anomalous energy, helium, tritium, and a variety of elements not initially present in the experimental container.
The material presented in the review document and oral presentations focused on electrochemical reactions in the Pd/D2O system, evidence for excess heat and nuclear reaction products, and the current theoretical framework that has been used to describe the observations. Data were also presented on the use of ion beams and glow discharge systems used to study the Pd,Ti/D and Pd,Ti/H systems. The review only addressed “light element” experiments, namely H or D fusion.
The proposers state that the results from the research provide evidence for effects in three categories, as summarized in the review document’s Conclusions Chapter:
- “The existence of a physical effect that produces heat in metal deuterides. The heat is measured in quantities greatly exceeding all known chemical processes and the results are many times in excess of determined errors using several kinds of apparatus. In addition, the observations have been reproduced, can be reproduced at will when the proper conditions are reproduced, and show the same patterns of behavior. Further, many of the reasons for failure to reproduce the heat effect have been discovered.”
- “The production of 4He as an ash associated with this excess heat, in amounts commensurate with a reaction mechanism consistent with D+D → 4He + 23.8 MeV (heat)”.
- “A physical effect that results in the emission of: (a) energetic particles consistent with d(d,n)3He and d(d,p)t fusions reactions, and (b) energetic alphas and protons with energies in excess of 10 MeV, and other emissions not consistent with deuteron-deuteron reactions.”
The material presented can be found at http://www.sc.doe.gov. Following the oral presentations, reviewers requested additional documentation from the presenters. This supplemental material can also be found at the indicated link.
Detailed Summary of Reviewer Response to Charge Elements
Since the 1987 report by Pons and Fleishmann, scientists have continued to investigate the conditions responsible for the anomalous heat production in an attempt to establish reproducible conditions for the generation of excess energy, quantify the amount of energy being released, and confirm the hypothesis that the energy is a consequence of nuclear fusion by detecting the expected nuclear reaction products. Below is a summary of the reviewer responses to the three charge elements, written by DOE program managers and intended to give an overall sense of the reviewers’ comments. The entire charge letter is
