It may have been noted that lithium has a heat of vaporization of about 140 kJ/mol and that the boiling point is close to the operating temp of this reactor on the inside 1350C.
This seems to work out to a whopping 20 MJ/kg which is high (did I get that wrong?) Consequently a lot thermal energy could be balanced, cycling around this phase change point – which is why they must keep the reactor hot. Phase change is one of the usual suspects in thermal anomalies. If one were to be looking for an alternative energy source which was gamma-free, but might cause mass-to-energy conversions as a side effect then any asymmetry here would do it. I say that without much risk - since in looking at 5 authoritative source for lithium properties, all of them had different heat of evaporation values - indicating that no one has a clue ! On the subject of energy balance and radiation Mass of Ni58 =57.935 mass of Ni62 =61.928 difference 3.993 amu Mass of neutron 1.0087 x 4 = 4.035 Mass of Li7=7.016 Mass of Li6= 6.015 difference 1.001 x 4= 4.004 The problem is that on paper - lithium cannot give up a neutron easily as there is a mass deficit going to neutrons - and at the same time, nickel cannot add 4 neutrons without shedding a large amount of energy. Curiously, if one looks at it from the perspective of 4 atoms of the initial lithium, 4.004 amu has been lost and only 3.993 gained, so the reaction is ostensibly lossy; but from the perspective of the nickel 4 neutrons have been added, and the gain is massive – in the range of 42 MeV net. One more interesting thing about this report. If lithium is the active fuel, and not hydrogen, which seems to be the case, then the ash which is lithium-6 is as valuable for batteries as is the natural metal. Maybe more valuable. Thus the fuel is essentially free, since the ash can be sold for cost (or even marked-up). Not that cost is as big an issue for IH as it is for Tesla, but it could also be that Li-6 is safer. "Safer" is worth paying for. Remember the Boeing lithium fires on their new plane? They were NEVER able to locate the real problem. Perhaps it was lithium-7 and the problem will go away once they get an adequate supply of Li-6 to make batteries only from the lighter isotope ... which of course will be the ash of the Rossi/IH reactor and the others which follow. I could see the necessity of Safety Laws being necessary, sometime in the future to demand that only Li-6 be used in batteries. Why do I think Elon Musk is already onto this ? Jones
