I believe that if Rossi succeeds, the floodgates will open and many other deserving experiments will be funded. I wrote to Mizuno:
"Rossi's results with Ni-H are similar to your results with phenanthrene. I think that if he succeeds, the mass media and people everywhere will believe that cold fusion is real. Billions of dollars will be made available for research and development. I expect the government and many corporations will offer you money and laboratory space for your work. Your phenanthrene may work better than Rossi's nickel nanopowder. . . ." Funding every cold fusion experiment in sight would be good for the science, good for the technology, and even good for Rossi. It would contribute to our understanding of the basic science, probably allowing Defkalion to focus their research and make rapid progress. Vasudev Godbole and others have expressed fears that Rossi's cells may not be safe, because they require lead shielding and 32 of them exploded. I share these fears. I think it may be premature to begin selling reactors around the end of the year. However, I am feeling more confidence in Rossi these days for a couple of reasons -- First, Defkalion reportedly has a lot of capital, and they have formed an alliance with important people in Greece including the president. Not that I trust the president's technical judgment, but I suppose that such people will insist on careful engineering and product testing. They have the resources to carefully vet the claim. They can call in experts from anywhere in the world. They can afford to pay top engineering talent to ensure safety. They have employees who can perform due diligence. People who have billions of dollars and the leeway to risk hundreds of millions of dollars, and who are connected to high level national governments are usually cautious. They are usually conservative. Not always, but usually. Second, even if the Rossi reactors as presently configured are somewhat unsafe, they will be improved rapidly. As I said, if Rossi succeeds, corporations will soon be pouring billions of dollars in cold fusion R&D. Every aspect of the technology will be explored in depth, and any problems with safety will soon be fixed. - Jed
