On Sat, Oct 25, 2014 at 3:18 PM, Alan Fletcher <a...@well.com> wrote:
So maybe the hotcat wasn't running OUT of fuel at 32 days : it had > completed the Ni isotope conversion (to a greater degree than Rossi > expected), and was then running at peak efficiency? > > This could explain the improvement in efficiency over the first half, when > the input power could be reduced. > This makes sense in part, as there is probably nothing particularly special about nickel-7Li neutron stripping reactions. In the case of deuterium, neutron stripping is exothermic for the large majority of known isotopes. I suspect something similar happens with 7Li, but for fewer isotopes. So when the nickel is exhausted through enrichment, other reactions would be favored. The part that I have less of a sense of is what would set of reactions would kick in at the point of using up the nickel and why they might have been hindered prior to that. Eric
