Harry Veeder wrote:
The fact that the DOE panel once again diminishes the value of all the thermal observations and measurements is perplexing.
No, it is no perplexing, it is politics. This is the work of Steve Jones or one his allies. He denies all calorimetry and says there has never been any excess heat. Jones and DoE want to redirect all cold fusion research back to the search for neutrons and other hot fusion particles, and away from excess heat. Excess heat threatens their paradigm and their funding -- whereas the hot fusion crowd welcomes Jones' results. That is why the report says the experiments of the last 15 years have been a waste of time. I think their plan is simple and obvious, and it is exactly the same plan they have had all along:
1. They redirect all cold fusion research back to particles. 2. The particles are not found. 3. They declare the field never existed in the first place.
Even if particles are found in a Jones experiment, they can probably be explained by hot fusion mechanisms, according to Storms.
The section of the report that Keith Nagel quoted is about Jones:
"A similar line of investigation involved counting deuterium loaded foils to observe the products for the standard fusion reaction channels, proton + triton or neutron + 3He, with particle detectors and coincidence techniques. Indications of purported detection of proton-triton coincidences at a low level were presented. Even skeptical reviewers cited this work as one line of investigation that could be pursued to a clear conclusion."
This is the only kind of cold fusion the DoE has ever countenanced. Their interests and their policies have not changed one iota since April 1989.
- Jed
