Francis Tanzella on the Cold Fusion Now! podcast

The Cold Fusion Now! podcast hosts Dr. Francis Tanzella, Program Manager of Low Energy Nuclear Reactions (LENR) at SRI International, just retired, and now a private LENR consultant.

After earning his Ph.D in chemistry from UC, Berkeley, and studying Electrochemistry as a post-doctoral at the University of Pennsylvania, he worked as a chemist at DuPont.

Dr. Tanzella joined SRI in 1986 and helped develop the low energy nuclear reactions (LENR) electrochemical and calorimetry programs there using electrochemical techniques to monitor chemical reaction rates including electrical, electrochemical, and acoustic stimulation of the PdHx system to yield LENR processes in solids.

In addition Dr. Tanzella has used different experimental nuclear measurements to determine the presence or absence of nuclear particles during LENR. He has hosted many other LENR researchers in attempts to reproduce and understand their processes and devices.

Dr. Francis Tanzella talks with Ruby on episode 17 of the Cold Fusion Now! podcast about the fate of the SRI program, giving his assessment of the viability of the Brillouin Hot Tube as a technology.

Listen at https://coldfusionnow.org/cfnpodcast/ or subscribe in iTunes.


The September 16 earthquake in Hokkaido, Japan has wrecked the laboratory of veteran LENR researcher Tadahiko Mizuno. A gofundme page has been set up to help pay for replacement of damaged equipment and assessing the building.

Assist the continuation of revolutionary research:


Michael McKubre at ICCF-21

LENR consultant and former Director of Energy Research at SRI International Michael McKubre presented at the 21st International Conference on Condensed Matter Nuclear Science held at Colorado State University in Fort Collins Colorado. The five-day conference ran June 3-8, 2018 and featured multiple groups reporting solid results in the generation of excess heat and transmutations.

Several labs are regularly able to produce between 6-20 Watts excess thermal power and are now experimenting with the various parameters in order to determine how to scale that output up. There were several theory sessions and more theories presented, but no consensus on modeling features of the reaction was determined.

In episode 13 of the Cold Fusion Now! podcast, we join Michael McKubre just starting his talk on Monday morning June 4 with The Fleischmann Pons Heat and Ancillary Effects: What Do We Know, and Why? How Might We Proceed?

Listen at our podcast page https://coldfusionnow.org/cfnpodcast/ or subscribe in iTunes.

Patreon supports creators like us, and we need you to join in. Go to our homepage on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/coldfusionnow and pledge your support. Just a few dollars brings the voices of breakthrough energy research to world attention.

Then take the next step and talk to your friends, talk to your family, talk to your teachers and students: there’s a new kind of energy discovered, based on the quantum effects of hydrogen interacting with metal, and it offers a green technological future with enough resources for everybody. We can make it happen, but there’s still work to do. Become a Cold Fusion Now! Patron on Patreon!

Find more notes, audio, and photos of ICCF-21 courtesy the Cold Fusion Now! Collective here.

Live Long and Prosper – Cold Fusion Now!

Title graphic: Cold Fusion Then – Cold Fusion Now!.

It was twenty-six years ago today that the world learned of a new form of energy that promised a green technological future for all life on Earth.

Twenty-six years later, we can’t yet buy a reactor in Home Depot, but prototypes are multiplying in independent labs.

We don’t yet have university labs training a new generation of scientists, but young entrepreneurs are self-organizing around open-science principles.

The ground is formed, and a figure emerging. A critical mass of awareness has occurred.

Could a man like Bill Gates ignore what he was told one day last fall?

And where would the most powerful man in the world go to get the real deal on the scientific question of our time?

The Department of Energy? Oh do not be cruel.

Dr. Robert Duncan at ICCF-18.
Dr. Robert Duncan at ICCF-18.
Dr. Robert Duncan, former Vice Chancellor of Research at University of Missouri, was key in creating the Sidney Kimmel Institute of Nuclear Renaissance (SKINR), now directed by Dr. Graham Hubler, formerly of Naval Research Lab.

Watch Graham Hubler’s SKINR Overview from ICCF-18.

Slide from Graham Hubler's SKINR Overview at ICCF-18
Slide from Graham Hubler’s SKINR Overview at ICCF-18

Now Dr. Duncan is at Texas Tech University as Senior Vice President for Research, where he is Founder and Director for the Center for Emerging Energy Sciences (CEES). From the Texas Tech University Board of Regents Agenda Book for the meeting December 11-12, 2014 [.pdf], CEES will study the Anomalous Heat Effect (AHE), one of the many names for cold fusion that emphasizes the mysterious and as-yet-unknown reaction that creates fusion-sized heat from small, table-top reactors.

According to Texas Tech, total research expenditures topped $140 million in 2012. What portion will go to CEES? Even 1% would be a welcome change, but not enough to do what CEES wants: to discover the nature of the reaction, and engineer a technology.

They will partner with ENEA, the Italian National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development and contract with a scientist “soon to retire” from SRI International. These two institutions are experienced in the field of condensed matter nuclear science, publishing major results over twenty-six years of research.

Dr. Vittorio Violanted at ICCF-18
Dr. Vittorio Violante of ENEA at ICCF-18
Director of Energy Research at SRI International is Dr. Michael McKubre, whose lab dream team has reproduced results such as the correlation of excess heat from cells that use a fuel of deuterium with the amount of helium produced. ENEA’s early experiments probed the properties of materials. Led by Dr. Vittorio Violante, the lab has worked the SRI regularly for the past two-and-a-half decades to produce unique metallic hydrides used in the numerous ground-breaking experiments. He briefed Bill Gates and friends last November.

The complete service environment for a new energy technology is now in place. We have the metal, we have the water, and we have a desperately broken global economy ready for re-tooling.

Alliances are forming. How will the LENR community respond?

Cold fusion scientists, so used to being ignored, now expect to be ignored. They are as ill-prepared today for the onslaught of attention as Drs. Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons were twenty-six years ago when the two quiet researchers emerged from their basement lab to tell what they had found, and were crushed by the satellite environment invading their every beaker.

Since then, the International Society for Condensed Matter Nuclear Science should have had CNN covering their conferences, but most of the time, they had NO ONE. When someone was there, it wasn’t Anderson Cooper, it was Infinite Energy Magazine, and sometimes, those scalawags from Cold Fusion Now.

When the Gates Foundation does makes their move (and how could they not?), will the second tier of capitalists start jumping in? Will CNBC start sending professional crews for sit-downs with real video equipment – and lights?! You betcha!

And where will the press go to for clear information? How do you start to investigate a story that has been hiding in plain sight for two-and-a-half-decades?

Well, er, I am available as of this morning to design and manage any public relations campaign, so please do call.

What will you get?

Hmmm…

UPDATE on Cold Fusion Now Actions

I have little time to blog anymore.
The poor Cold Fusion Now website is neglected and in disarray. (Wanna help re-design? Email me!)
My activity hasn’t stopped…

Last fall, I was on our local TV news surreptitiously holding two cold fusion books, Developments in Electrochemistry Science Inspired by Martin Fleischmann and The Explanation of Low Energy Nuclear Reaction, as I talked about the upcoming Science Night at our community college.

More recently, our little town’s tribute to Leonard Nimoy, simply called Spock Day, brought the news cameras out, and they caught a little promo I always bring with me. Notice the Cold Fusion Now sticker in the corner?! How about the new Hydrogen coasters on the bar? Check out these photos snapped off the TV:

Geek girl Ruby Carat with KIEM News' Steve King, and Astronomer John Pedicino.
Geek girl Ruby Carat, KIEM News Steve King, and Astronomer John Pedicino.
KIEM-TV's Brad Curtis with partial CFN sticker
KIEM-TV’s Brad Curtis photographed on TV with partial CFN sticker

 

 

Hydrogen atom coasters on the bar at Spock Day
Hydrogen atom coasters on the bar at Spock Day courtesy Cold Fusion Now!
Spock and CFN on TV together!
Spock and CFN on TV together!

 
 
All lots of fun, but is it really making a difference?

YES!

While cartoons of hydrogen atoms, and running around leaving coasters on bars may seem like a joke to the serious-minded, (and I’ve gotten the “disgruntled” mail to prove it!) I believe that every act of advocacy is worthwhile, and has the potential to change one life, or a billion lives.

Any moment, a teaching moment!

In a recent algebra class, I was demonstrating properties of polynomial functions. I brought up Making Sense of Alumina Spectral Emissivity, a new paper by Bob Higgins on his deep-dive into the thermal imaging of the nickel-hydrogen “dog-bone” reactors. It is an excellent introductory article to the sticky issues in thermal measurement. In the paper is the equation for radiant power emitted from a blackbody as proportional to the temperature of the body to the fourth power, M = εσ T4.

As I started to talk about how coefficients scale a function, and in particular how the emissivity effects the radiant power in this equation, several students brought up Andrea Rossi and the E-Cat – more than ever before! I was able to answer some questions, putting people on the path to reason, instead of reaction. Who knows what that will be inspired in the minds of creative youth?

Dr. Melvin Miles at SPAWAR
Dr. Melvin Miles at SPAWAR
New movie finished; waiting for release!

Even more fun was the trip to San Diego this past January to interview Navy scientists on their work in cold fusion research.

Altogether, I filmed a total of five hours video interviews with Dr. Stanislaw Szpak, Dr. Frank Gordon, both from the SPAWAR lab, and Dr. Melvin Miles, from the China Lake Research lab. I have finished editing a first movie from those interviews, and I’ve already started on a second.

It’s important to have these scientists who’ve worked so long alone to tell their own story. Cold fusion has a complicated history, with a complicated science, and complicated people. As it moves to the mainstream, and information begins to dissipate through the feeds, a need for simplicity will distort the truth of the real events as they happened.

If the people who lived it don’t tell their story, someone else will. The LENR community must shape the story of what happened when one of the greatest discoveries of all time was kept from the world. It is important for the integrity of those who suffered the consequences; the intrepid researchers must be recognized, and the rest of us deserve a clean-energy future.

Hep the elite to what’s going down!

Dr. Melvin Miles visiting Caltech January 2015.
Dr. Melvin Miles visiting Caltech January 2015.
I had picked up Dr. Miles for the trip to San Diego, and on the way back, we stopped in Pasadena, California at the campus of Caltech for a little advocacy. Dr. Miles and I dropped off copies of the chapter on cold fusion from Developments in Electrochemistry Science Inspired by Martin Fleischmann to a few key Caltech faculty. Written by Dr. Miles and Dr. Michael McKubre of SRI International, the chapters were distributed in mailboxes to such luminaries as David Goodstein and Nate Lewis. We were able to hand one personally to Dr. Harry Gray, an eminent researcher who Miles had met years ago at another college.

Walking into Dr. Gray’s office, he was open to meeting us, and surprised at the activity in the LENR field. He remarked, “I’ve got a lot of catching up to do.”

Postcard for LENR book on Caltech bulletin board.
Postcard for LENR book on Caltech bulletin board.
I also put Cold Fusion Now stickers and postcards for Dr. Edmund StormsThe Explanation of Low Energy Nuclear Reaction on lots of Caltech bulletin boards, knowing many students will see them, and not be as closed-minded as their professors.

 

 

 

Rocket scientists always get the latest

Postcards, stickers, and magnets were left at Voyager Airport Restaraunt.
Postcards, stickers, and magnets were left at Voyager Airport Restaurant.
Always a stop on my travels, the Mojave Spaceport got another dose of news when I dropped off stickers, postcards, and calendar magnets to Virgin Galactic‘s office there and the cafe where all the rocket scientists eat lunch.

I left a serious wad of materials on the way down to San Diego (I asked permission, and the gal said “Oh yeah, we’re always happy to have more stuff to look at”), and when I came back through a week later, they were all gone, so I laid more down.

The Cold Fusion Now calendar magnet was still on the soda machine. Yah!

Cold Fusion Now calendar magnet sits at Mojave Spaceport soda machine!
Cold Fusion Now calendar magnet sits at Mojave Spaceport soda machine!

Got a ticket for the ride of your life?

We have only to look back at the early publications of Infinite Energy Magazine, started by Eugene Mallove and Jed Rothwell, to see what lies ahead: an explosion of interest, and businesses popping up like clover. I get dizzy thinking about the speed at which this nascent technology will sweep the planet – and I can’t wait!

For twenty-six years, the world has been moments away from breakthrough. We don’t have to wait much longer. We will have a second chance at designing living arrangements for all the life on our planet – and we can begin now!

All in all, the lack of activity on the Cold Fusion Now website is only because we are taking our activism to a new level. I do want to sincerely apologize to everyone I have not written back this past year. Your messages are important to me, and give me a boost when I really need it. I thank you and am grateful for your support. With two p-t jobs and a mortgage, I haven’t been able to respond in a timely manner. I will do better.

There is much more activity going on, but it’s still premature to tell the details.
Like, did I ever tell you about the time …

MM-Mexico-640x360

..Aiy yai yai!

LIVE LONG AND PROSPER!

Ruby at Spock Day: "The good of the many outweighs the good of the few!"
Ruby at Spock Day: “The good of the many outweighs the good of the few!”

COLD FUSION NOW!

SRI replicates six different types of cells

Dr. Michael McKubre describes his career researching cold fusion/LENR/CMNS at SRI, in Cold Fusion; 25 years of research at SRI presented November 5, 2014 in Oslo, Norway.

Presentation slides are here from lenr-canr.org.

A description of the visit was published by Infinite Energy Magazine.

The Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences (NTVA) and The Norwegian Society of Graduate Technical and Scientific Professionals (Tekna) sponsored the event as part of a one-day seminar Can LENR provide cheap and clean energy? drawing a capacity-crowd of around 60 people.

Former-head of Norway Defense Research Establishment and Nuclear Engineer Nils Holme chaired the committee, inviting speakers Sten Bergman of Stone Power AB in Sweden, and Hanno Essén of the Department of Mechanics, Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden, and Øystein Noreng, an economist from Norway.


Photo: Hanno Essen speaking in Oslo. Courtesy Infinite Energy Magazine

Hanno Essen, the past Chair of the Swedish Skeptics Society, recently released a report describing tests made of the E-Cat reactor, and spoke about “the various Rossi replications”.

Sten Bergman represented the energy industry perspective on LENR and Øystein Noreng spoke on “economic and other challenges of bringing any kind of LENR technology to the marketplace.”

McKubre also gave “the up-to-date status of Brillouin Energy’s latest technical progress”. SRI has been working with Brillouin Energy Corp. on the testing and design of an evolving energy cell. The design’s on-demand control of the reaction needs only a higher thermal output to be commercially viable.

Slide from M.McKubre: Brillouin Energy gas flow cell gets up to 650 degrees
Slide from M.McKubre: Brillouin Energy gas flow cell gets up to 650 degrees

McKubre lists Blacklight Power, Francesco Piantelli, Andrea Rossi, Defkalion, and Brillouin Energy Corporation all as working towards a commercial product using “small dimension nickel” and light-hydrogen. As small start-ups try to piece together a product, smart communities are preparing for a world without fossil fuels. McKubre writes that the seminar was called for to help Scandinavians educate themselves and plan for a future after the rich, local oil and gas resources run out.

“The object was to inform the possibility that Martin Fleischmann was right (and, by implication, Randy Mills, Mel Miles, Francesco Piantelli, Les Case, Yoshio Arata, Andrea Rossi, Tadahiko Mizuno, Defkalion, Brillouin and a host of others afterwards),” writes McKubre.

Slide from M.McKubre 25 Years Research at SRI: Successful replications of six different types of cold fusion experiment.
Slide from M.McKubre 25 Years Research at SRI: Successful replications of six different types of cold fusion experiment.
McKubre writes, “I believe what my hosts would like to see is at least one active, productive research project established in a Nordic country (Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark) that would allow this community to “pay to play” in the LENR/CMNS world and thus be prepared for any sudden advances. A secondary purpose would be to train young people to be the next leaders of any ensuing technology.”

“This is a reasonable and rational approach that I certainly support. Let me say that more strongly. Any major country or company that does not engage now, or soon, runs a serious risk of missing the start of the revolution and being trampled.”

“That is not to say that I know that LENR will contribute significantly to primary power generation in any form in the near future, or that I know how.

But having studied the field closely now for more than 25 years (more than 35 years if you count our earlier studies of the Pd-D system for other reasons), nothing I know stands as significant impediment to this achievement…

… and the hoped-for goal of the “good guys” appears to be rapidly approaching. For a long time now corporations have been “lining up to be second” — afraid of the stigma, afraid to be left behind, but with insufficient courage to go first.[2]”

“With this in mind the Norwegian strategy of “hedging” seems to be entirely appropriate with no risk attached and very little cost associated. In the worst case young people can be trained in relevant disciplines of physical sciences and physics that will have high value in a wide range of applications and implementations. In the best case Norway, Sweden and whichever Nordic country chooses to be involved can position themselves to be at or near the front of the coming wave.”

Read the full article here compliments Infinite Energy Magazine.

Download the presentation slides here on lenr-canr.org.

PESN interview with Michael McKubre on Brillouin

Sterling Allan of PESN visited the labs of SRI International to tour the facility and chat with Dr. Michael McKubre, lead investigator for cold fusion technology at SRI.

In the interview, McKubre discusses the high level of control that Chief Technology Officer Robert Godes achieved with their Brillouin Energy Corp electro-chemical wet boiler design, effecting the level of excess heat with their Q-wave electromagnetic pulses, with an energy output of 4x. There is a new gas-loaded system that is being engineered to produce that same level of control with a higher output.

Original PESN post is here.

Related Links

Brillouin Energy Corporation

Brillouin Energy and SRI advancing together

A Closer Look at Brillouin

Brillouin Energy Patent Granted in China

More news on Brillouin Energy Corp Patent Filing

New Kid on the Block? – Brillouin Energy Corp

Brillouin Energy interview on Ca$h Flow: “We can re-power coal plants with LENR”

SRI International: “What happened to cold fusion?”

Dr. Michael McKubre, long-time researcher in cold fusion from the SRI lab in Menlo Park, California speaks to the public on the subject at Cafe Scientifique.

This is the first of eight separate Youtubes, all entitled “What happened to cold fusion?”

Dr. McKubre describes two main branches of the science, electro-chemical palladium-dueterium PD-D and nickel-hydrogen gas-loading Ni-H systems in plain easy language that any interested person can understand.

“I’m going to teach you enough electro-chemistry to go home and do these experiments yourselves.”

He says “Most of the work in the field has been in PD-D systems.” Francesco Piantelli began exploring Ni-H cells in the early nineties. It is this type of reaction on which inventor Andrea A Rossi based his Energy Catalyzer steam generator. Dr. McKubre will discuss that development at the end of the talk because as a news topic, its “hot and interesting.” He also says “Some recent results at SRI seem to support the idea that nickel and light hydrogen also can support nuclear level excess heat.”

In video 2 following, he says of the excess heat generated by a cold fusion energy cell, “This amount of heat is 100 or 1000 times the sum of all possible chemical energies combined.”

PD-D systems are sensitive to impurities. The cell itself is not glass.Fusilica, Teflon, platinum, palladium, quartz and alumina are the only materials that can be used in the cell.

To measure the heat generated accurately, Dr. McKubre says “we need a very well-defined temperature environment.”

The temperature difference between the water coming in and the water going out is measured by two sensors at the inlet of water moving past the heating unit and two-to-four sensors on the outlet water.

The three things we need to know is “what is the temperature difference, what is the mass, the flow rate, how many grams-per-second of water is going through that calorimeter, and what is the heat capacity of that water which is 4.186 Joules per gram of air-saturated water.”

Part 3:

Part 4:

Part 5:

Part 6

Part 7

Part 8

Related Links

Michael McKubre interviewed by James Martinez on Ca$h Flow June 1, 2010 download mp3

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