Hot topics in cold fusion

In his letter about cold fusion involving muonic atoms, Jacques Read discussed the 1989 experiment by Stanley Pons and Martin Fleischmann that “has been repeated over and over.” Like most nuclear physicists of my generation, I was very excited by the idea of cold fusion of hydrogen nuclei. I had accepted the prevailing conclusion that what was reported by Pons and Fleischmann was not fusion. In 2002, however, after a coincidental encounter, I started participating in research in condensedmatter nuclear science (CMNS)—the term practitioners now use instead of cold fusion. I was looking for at least one reproducible-on-demand demonstration of a strong nuclear reaction due to a chemical process. I have not been successful thus far. But I have met many CMNS scientists, read their reports, and participated in their international conferences.

The excess energy Read mentions is no longer the only claim made by CMNS researchers. Others are emission of nuclear particles, transmutation of elements, and changes in isotopic composition of elements. A recently published book by Edmund Storms, ¹ a retired materials scientist from Los Alamos National Laboratory, summarizes what has been discovered since 1989. I believe that reports made by recognized scientists should be taken seriously, even when their results conflict with what is expected. According to CMNS researchers, a new kind of nuclear phenomenon in condensed matter has been discovered. But conditions under which the new phenomenon would be reproducible remain to be identified.