Much has been made of an apparent lack of reproducibility in so called "cold fusion" experiments. In this paper we will demonstrate that this failure, while real, was the result of inability to meet critical threshold criteria: a thermodynamic loading, dynamic flux and disequilibrium trigger. Recent experiments, performed independently at SRI and ENEA, have successfully replicated powerful excess heat results obtained initially by Energetics in Israel. This success and high levels of experiment reproducibility are attributed to two critical factors that allow these threshold barriers to be surpassed: i)achievement and maintenance of a high level of control of the metallurgy of the bulk palladium metal host and the cathode surface morphology, guided by initial studies at ENEA and the University of Rome,ii) use of a novel non steady-state cathode current stimulus, proposed and developed by Energetics. With simultaneous high deuterium loading and high flux, excess heat effects were measured in both Isoperibolic and Mass Flow calorimeters at factors several times greater than the electrical input power and several orders of magnitude larger than the sum of all conceivable chemical reactions.

Cold fusion (CF) protagonists and antagonists would no doubt agree that scientific processes have been challenged in the CF case. The public interest in CF turns on two questions: What are the potential benefits? What is the probability that CF is "real"? Potential benefits have been agreed on since CF announcement in 1989. The probability of CF reality may be assessed based on level of evidence (LoE): preponderance of evidence (PoE); clear and convincing evidence (CCE); and beyond a reasonable doubt (BRD). PoE, from civil law, indicates a probability of 50% or higher. BRD, from criminal law, has a probability approaching 90%. CCE, in between, thus has a 70-75% probability. CF experimental evidence, based on: 1) initial affirmations, 2) the large number of corroborations since marginalization, and 3) particularly demonstrative experiments, reasonably indicates at least a PoE level of evidence for excess heat. A case can also be made for a CCE (but probably not for a BRD) LoE. In either the PoE or CCE scenario a clear need is demonstrated for change in policy toward CR, given its potential benefits to humanity.   

ElectroMagnetic Radiation (EMR) and anomalous radiation (potentially produced by nuclear reactions, involving high energy particles), in a low-voltage discharge in a gas containing deuterium was measured using a Geiger counter located within the apparatus. This radiation is found to consist of energetic particles that are produced only when the voltage is above a critical value. In addition, the emission is very sensitive to the presence of oxygen in the gas. The intensity of the reaction producing the radiation could be fit by a power function when compared to the applied voltage. The effect of EMR and other sources of noise that might be attributed to the anomalous radiation are discussed.

This paper examines the evidence for LENR occurring on or very near to the surface of materials. Several types of experimental indications for LENR surface reactions have been reported and will be reviewed. LENR result in two types of products, energy and the appearance of new elements. The level of instantaneous power production can be written as the product of four factors: (1) the total area of the surface on which the reactions can occur, (2) the fraction of the area that is active at any time, (3) the reaction rate, that is, the number of reactions per unit active area per second, and (4) the energy produced per reaction. Each of these factors, and their limits, are reviewed. A graphical means of relating these four factors over their wide variations has been devised. The instantaneous generation of atoms of new elements can also be written as the product of the first three factors and the new elemental mass produced per reaction. Again, a graphical means of presenting the factors and their results over many orders of magnitude has been developed.   

A distinctive array reaction products attributed to nuclear reactions was observed earlier in the "Patterson" flowing packed-bed type electrolytic cell experiments using multi-layer thin films of metals on mm-size plastic beads. The swimming electron layer and a new magic number theory were proposed to explain this. More recently these theories have been expanded into a "D-Pd-D cluster" model to explain a wider range of transmutation experiments. This cluster model is consistent with certain measurements of energetic charged-particle emission during thin film electrolysis, with observations suggesting localized reactions and also with x-ray production during plasma bombardment experiments. The cluster reaction concept and supporting experimental data will be discussed in this presentation. In addition to explaining, if understood and optimized, cluster reactions could lead to an important new power source based on Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENRs). A conceptual power cell based on a novel electrode design that promotes cluster reactions is presented.   

The discovery of nuclear fission by Hahn and Strassmann was based on a very rare microanalytical result that could not initially indicate the very complicated details of this most important process. A similarity is discussed for the low energy nuclear reactions (LENRs) with analogies to the yield structure found in measurements of uranium fission. The LENR product distribution measured earlier in a reproducible way in experiments with thin film electrodes and a high density deuteron concentration in palladium has several striking similarities with the uranium fission fragment yield curve.¹ This comparison is specifically focussed to the Maruhn-Greiner local maximum of the distribution within the large-scale minimum when the fission nuclei are excited. Implications for uranium fission are discussed in comparison with LENR relative to the identification of fission a hypothetical compound nuclear reaction via a element ³⁰⁶X₁₂₆ with double magic numbers.

¹ G.H. Miley and J.A. Patterson, J. New Energy 1, 11 (1996); G.H. Miley et al, Proc ICCF6, p. 629 (1997).  

We proposed¹ a new mechanism for low energy nuclear reactions (LENR): cooperative resonance processes involving the whole the system - nuclei + atoms + condensed matter can occur at a smaller threshold energies than the corresponding ones on free constituents. The cooperative processes can be induced and enhanced by low energy external fields. The excess heat is the emission of internal energy and transmutations at LENR are the result of a redistribution of internal energy of the whole system. The lack of financial support and ignorance by mainstream physicists has resulted in the LENR field not being accepted. We postulate that LENR can lead to catastrophes, potentially including, the runaway evcnt involving the reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, the explosion of the twin towers during the 11 September 2001 World Trade Center collapse, in New York, the explosion of transformers in Moscow, catastrophes of submarines, and other phenomena associated with a cooperative resonance synchronization mechanism.

¹F.A. Gareev and I.E. Zhidkova, Proc. of the 12th international conference on cold fusion, Yokohama, Japan 27 November -2 December 2005.

Condensed Matter Nuclear Science has confirmed 2 outstanding experimental results: 144.5W of continuous "Excess Heat" in 10 minutes(ICCF-3,1992) and the nuclear transmutation induced by deuterium flux on the Pd surface (ICCF-8, 2000). Theory predicted neutron emission based on the previous beam-target experiments. It was a wrong guidance, because there was no "commensurate neutron" detected. The collaboration with experimentalists helped theorist to modify their prediction in the past 19 years. Theorists might imagine that "high loading ratio" was necessary; then, the experiments said "deuterium flux was more important." Resonant tunneling theory imagined again "any resonance in inelastic scattering (nuclear reaction) had to be accompanied by a resonance in elastic scattering (diffusion); hence, a peak in excess heat should be correlated with a peak in deuterium flux." The experiments seem to confirm this imagination.¹ The next 2 predictions are: (1) Adjusting the loading rate to form a steady state for resonant tunneling;(2)Neutrino detection from this steady state to confirm its nuclear nature.

¹ J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys.36 3095(2003).

The SPAWAR PdD co-deposition protocol has been replicated in several laboratories and shown to produce apparent nuclear tracks in solid-state CR-39 detectors. Additional spectroscopic gamma ray measurements have been carried out using either high resolution, cryogenically cooled germanium or lower resolution sodium iodide detectors. These results are at odds with many of the competing theories in this field, suggesting the need to acquire additional temporally and spectrally resolved nuclear data.

Previously published results involving the use of the solid state track detectors, CR -39, have brought into question whether or not purported tracks are of nuclear origin. One method of determining this is to serially etch and scan these track detectors so as to determine the approximate depth of the tracks. This method, coupled with a computer code incorporating bulk and track etching rates in CR-39 for alpha particles, gives good agreement with tracks seen in SPAWAR co-deposition experiments as compared to known alpha sources.

We present developing evidence that three different sites (physical locations in the solid state) are involved in lattice-assisted nuclear reactions (LANR). By expanding the equation first developed by Prof. David Nagel at ICCF-13,¹ we correlate observations of excess heat and de novo helium-4 production to three different physical locations and to the optimal operating points (OOPs) which are now known to characterize LANR systems.² This observation will be shown to be consistent with our previous reports of distinct time constants which characterize the tardive thermal power regime³ (`heat after death'), which results after all input electrical power is terminated to an active LANR device.

¹ Nagel, D., "Rates for LENRs at Surfaces", ICCF-13}.
² Swartz. M., G. Verner, "Excess Heat from Low Electrical Conductivity Heavy Water Spiral-Wound Pd/D2O/Pt and Pd/D2O-PdCl2/Pt Devices", ICCF-10 (Camb. MA), Proceedings of ICCF-10, (2003).
³ Swartz. M., G. Verner, "Dual Ohmic Controls Improve Understanding of `Heat after Death' ", Transactions American Nuclear Society, vol. 93, ISSN:0003-018X, 891-892 (2005).

Evidence that nuclear reactions occur during Pd/D co-deposition has been reported.¹ These reactions were found to be enhanced in the presence of either an external electric or magnetic field. We have studied the interaction of applied magnetic fields with aqueous electrolysis. The electrolysis cell was placed between the pole pieces of an electromagnet, with the magnetic field normal to the electric field. Appreciable turbulence was observed with electrolysis current density of 0.05 A/cm2 and applied magnetic field of 0.8 tesla. Turbulence increased with increase in current density, up to 0.2 A/cm2, and/or increased magnetic field strength, up to 0.8 tesla. These effects are documented on a video tape. Results of studies of electrolysis of heavy water with a palladium cathode in an applied magnetic field, including heat measurements, surface topography, and surface composition, will be compared with results obtained from an identical cell without an applied magnetic field.

¹ Pamela A. Mosier-Boss, Stanislaw Szpak, and Frank E. Gordon, Abstract Submitted for the March 07 Meeting of The American Physical Society.

Interfaces between ionic solids and nanometals seem to provide an environment that promotes Bloch deuterium with 2-dimensional lattice symmetry. Electrolysis-loaded powdered ZrO₂ + nanoPd composite produced 10-W excess heat for 400 hr (1.4 x 10⁷ J).¹ This compares with best plasma fusion runs of 16 MW of fusion heat for </=1s (</= 1.6 x 10⁷ J). The fusion heat was less than the input energy).² In 2004, Arata and Zhang pressure-loaded ZrO₂ + nanoPd with D₂ at 140^oC and produced an estimated steady 0.6 W of fusion heat.^{3, 4} The ionic oxide + nanometal composites absorb abnormal amounts of hydrogen gas.<sup>5

1</sup> Y. Arata and Y-C Zhang, Proc. Japan Acad. 78B, 57 (2002).
² C. Cookson, Financial Times, Energy Section, 14 (9 Nov. 2007).
³ Y. Arata and Y-C Zhang, Proc. ICCF12, 44 (2006).
⁴ T.A. Chubb, Proc. ICCF13, (submitted 2007).
⁵ S-i. Yamaura et al., J. Mater. Res. 17, 1329 (2002).

Basic ideas about how resonant electromagnetic interaction (EMI) can take place in finite solids are reviewed. These ideas not only provide a basis for conventional, electron energy band theory (which explains charge and heat transport in solids), but they also explain how through finite size effects, it is possible to create many of the kinds of effects envisioned by Giuliano Preparata. The underlying formalism predicts that the orientation of the external fields in the SPAWAR protocol^1,2 has direct bearing on the emission of high-energy particles. Resonant EMI also implies that nano-scale solids, of a particular size, provide an optimal environment for initiating Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) in the PdD system.

¹ Krivit, Steven B., New Energy Times, 2007, issue 21, item 10. http://newenergytimes.com/news/2007/NET21.htm.
² Szpak, S.; Mosier-Boss, P.A.; Gordon, F.E. Further evidence of nuclear reactions in the Pd lattice: emission of charged particles. Naturwissenschaften 94,511(2007).

G. Preparata earlier proposed a radical new QED theory, and had just begun application to cold fusion prior to his untimely death.¹ We have since used a variation of his theory to explain D-Pd-D cluster reactions in certain cold fusion experiments.² An ensemble of D atoms loaded into Pd can assume two different configurations coupled with the intrinsic EM field. A coherent state forms above critical density and temperature thresholds. This new state has lower energy than the Pd lattice where D-Pd-D atoms oscillate between the two configurations in tune with an EM field arising from vacuum fluctuations and co-resonating atoms. This form "coherence domains" (CDs) of micron size for PdD. CDs hold two mesoscopic components, a coherent fraction of D-Pd-D and a non- coherent fraction of interstitial Ds.. Large "cage" of CD's forms with a definite phase and zero entropy, trapping a "gas" of non-coherent Ds. In our D-Pd-D cluster theory this results in intense nuclear reactions.

¹ G. Preparata, "QED Coherence in Matter," World Scientific Press, Singapore, 1997.
² George H. Miley, et al., "Evidence and Theory for Cluster Reactions In LENRs", these APS Proceedings.