Cold fusion gets a brusin' from DOE.Cold fusion cold fusion or low-temperature fusion, nuclear fusion of deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, at or relatively near room temperature. Fusion, the reaction involved in the release of the destructive energy of a hydrogen bomb, requires extremely gets a bruisin' from DOE Generating energy by means of low-temperature nuclear fusion nuclear fusion Process by which nuclear reactions between light elements form heavier ones, releasing huge amounts of energy. In 1939 Hans Bethe suggested that the energy output of the sun and other stars is a result of fusion reactions among hydrogen nuclei. appears a remote possibility, concludes a Department of Energy advisory group in a preliminary report released July 12. "The panel recommends against any significant expenditures to establish cold fusion research centers or to support new efforts to find cold fusion," the report states. "Indeed, evidence for the discovery of a new nuclear process termed cold fusion is not persuasive." This strikes yet another blow against the sensational March 23 claim by electrochemists B. Stanley Pons of the University of Utah The University of Utah (also The U or the U of U or the UU), located in Salt Lake City, is the flagship public research university in the state of Utah, and one of 10 institutions that make up the Utah System of Higher Education. in Salk Lake City and Martin Fleischmann of the University of Southampton In the most recent RAE assessment (2001), it has the only engineering faculty in the country to receive the highest rating (5*) across all disciplines.[3] According to The Times Higher Education Supplement in England that they had found a means of generating energy by steadily fusing atoms at room temperature with a large accompanying release of heat. Argues the 22-member cold fusion panel: "So far, we have seen no experimental results that are sufficiently free of ambiguities and calibration problems to make us confident that the steady production of excess heat has been observed." The final version of the report goes to Energy Secretary James D. Watkins Admiral James David Watkins (born on March 7, 1927) is a retired U.S. Navy officer and former Chief of Naval Operations who also served as U.S. Secretary of Energy during the George H. W. Bush Administration and chaired U.S. government commissions on HIV/AIDS and ocean policy. in November. "some minor things could change -- even major ones -- between now and November," notes nuclear chemist John R. Huizenga from the University of Rochester The University of Rochester (UR) is a private, coeducational and nonsectarian research university located in Rochester, New York. The university is one of 62 elected members of the Association of American Universities. (N.Y.), co-chairman of the panel. However, he adds, "I don't expect that to happen." The panel says also that "there remain unresolved issues and scientifically interesting questions" and recommends their investigation within existing federal research programs. These issues include apparently unflawed reports of heat bursts and potential fusion products such as neutron bursts and tritium tritium (trĭt`ēəm), radioactive isotope of hydrogen with mass number 3. The tritium nucleus, called a triton, contains one proton and two neutrons. It has a half-life of 12.5 years and decays by beta-particle emission. , Huizenga says. Even if these observations are confirmed, the panel doubts they would apply to energy production. Meanwhile, the General Electric Co. in Schenectady, N.Y., has committed four scientists to the task of "unraveling what processes might be taking place." |
|
||||||||||||||||
Printer friendly
Cite/link
Email
Feedback
Reader Opinion