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Lab Explosion Kills Cold-Fusion Scientist
The New York Times

January 4, 1992

MENLO PARK, Calif., Jan. 3 — An experiment involving cold fusion exploded Thursday, killing one scientist and injuring three others.

Fire officials said no measurable amounts of harmful chemicals or radioactivity were released in the explosion at SRI International, a not-for-profit laboratory that was conducting experiments for the Electric Power Research Institute of Palo Alto, Calif., a utilities research group.

The scientist killed was Andrew Riley, 33 years old, of the power institute.

Capt. Jim Lichtenstein of the Menlo Park Fire Department said today that the surviving scientists told investigators that an automatic pressure-release valve was not functioning properly on a canister being used in an experiment and that the explosion occurred when one of them tried to release the pressure manually.

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