Here is a revised version of the text with some of the Google translate
artifacts removed. I also translated the figure labels. I cannot upload the
figure here. You can see it here:

https://www.lenr-forum.com/forum/thread/5562-january-2018-nikkei-article-about-cold-fusion/?postID=82534#post82534

The figure is nothing to get excited about.

- Jed


Cold fusion: overturning the conclusion that it was “fake”
After 30 years, a series of confirmations

Jan. 14, 2018
Nikkei Shimbun morning edition


In “cold nuclear fusion,” hydrogen atoms generate a nuclear fusion reaction
at room temperature to produce energy. When this phenomenon was first
observed in 1989, many researchers began studying it, but the experimental
results were not replicated and the boom quickly subsided. Roughly 30 years
have passed since then. The occurrence of excess heat, which is thought to
be caused by a nuclear reaction, has been repeatedly confirmed, mainly in
Japanese research groups which have continued this research with quiet
dedication, and which have uncovered clues about the nature of the reaction.

Observations of excess heat which is thought to be caused by a hydrogen
fusion reaction have made by members of a research group, including
Toyota’s technological think tank Technova (Tokyo, Chiyoda-ku), Nissan
Motor, Tohoku University, Kobe University, Kyushu University, Nagoya
University. They obtained research funding from the New Energy and
Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO) and conducted
experiments for two years, ending in October 2017.

In order to compare the experimental results from different groups with
each other, researchers installed similar laboratory equipment at Kobe
University and Tohoku University, and used experimental specimens with
common specifications. This duplicated experiment was carried out 16 times
while varying conditions such as sample composition and temperature, and
the conditions of heat generation were investigated. In the best-performing
case, a 120-gram sample was used, which produce excess heat of 10 to 20
watts, lasting about 1 month.

In the experiment of the same group, a sample of a metal powder was made
with a combination of palladium and nickel, copper and nickel, and
deuterium gas (which is hydrogen formed by one proton and one neutron in
the nucleus) or ordinary hydrogen gas, was injected and the reaction
occurred on the metal surface. This method of injecting hydrogen gas into a
metallic material with a microstructure is the prototype that was developed
in 2005 by Professor Emeritus Yoshiaki Arata of Osaka University.

In 2001, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries succeeded in “transmutation” in which
cesium and strontium are changed to other elements by permeating deuterium
gas through a multilayered film made from palladium or the like. Dr.
Yasuhiro Iwamura who was the lead researcher in this project moved to
Tohoku University and participated as a core member in this research
project.

The cold fusion method announced by researchers in the United States about
30 years ago was to electrolyze heavy water with palladium electrodes.
Although this method has been attempted extensively abroad, research groups
such as Technova have concentrated on the method of permeating deuterium
(or hydrogen) gas into the metal rather than the electrolysis method,
because they consider it more promising.

Based on these experiments, the conditions under which an exothermic
reaction occurs have been clarified. First of all, it is necessary to
combine two kinds of metal such as palladium and nickel, rather than using
a single type of metal. Moreover, when the ratio of palladium and copper
was decreased to palladium 1: nickel 7 or copper 1: nickel 7, the
generation of heat was enhanced.

“A specimen made at an appropriate ratio has an interstitial structure
smaller than a nanometer (one-billionth of a meter) on the surface, and
hydrogen seems to enter into this space and a reaction occurs.” Professor
Emeritus of Osaka University explains Prof. Akito Takahashi, who is a
senior adviser to the research group and Technova.

If the proportion of palladium or copper is high, these metals surround the
specimen around the specimen tightly, and it is impossible to create
“places” where hydrogen react with each other. “Heat is generated in
experiments by electrolysis, probably because these nanostructures were
made by accident on the metal electrode surface,” said Prof. Takahashi. It
is also clear that exothermic reaction occurs even when the species of
hydrogen gas injected is not deuterium gas but normal hydrogen gas. Also,
when injecting gas, when the temperature inside the device was raised to
200 to 400 degrees Celsius, it was found that the exothermic reaction did
not stop within a short time, but rather continued for several weeks.

At Tohoku University’s equipment, a temperature so high that in some cases
it melts ceramics attached to the metal specimen. “There is no doubt that
an unknown reaction that cannot be explained by ordinary chemical reactions
is occurring” (Prof. Iwamura). What kind of reaction is actually going on?
“Multibody fusion”, which is said to occur in an extremely small space, has
been proposed by Prof. Emeritus Takahashi. Four deuterium atoms condense to
one point and nuclear fusion occurs once beryllium is formed. This breaks
into two helium and heat is generated. In this case there is no radiation
emitted, unlike the case of normal fusion.

The research group expects that it is possible to generate 1 kilowatt of
heat, which is two orders of magnitude larger than the present reactions,
by improving the structure of the sample, increasing the amount reactant,
devising changes to the temperature conditions and so on. Cold fusion,
which was once said to be “fake science” because the experiment could not
be reproduced, is still distrusted by many researchers. Professor Emeritus
Takahashi says: “I would like to demonstrate results that will convince
anyone, and to ask the world to once again evaluate the significance of
this research.”

(Editorial Member Kazuki Yoshikawa)

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