Nikkei Shimbun
Nikkei Sangyo Shimbun
Translated from Japanese by John Bukacek

May 23, 2008, page 10

On May 22, Yoshiaki Arata, Professor Emeritus of Osaka University, successfully performed a public demonstration of an experiment producing heat without introducing energy from the outside. A large quantity of helium was detected and was considered to be formed by nuclear fusion.

Professor Emeritus Arata stated that “A nuclear fusion reaction has occurred that is of a type different from that in the past.” However, it is difficult to measure the quantity of heat generated, and a large number of follow-up experiments are needed to prove that nuclear fusion at normal temperatures has occurred.

In order for nuclear fusion to occur, protons, which form the atomic nucleus of hydrogen, must approach each other at a very small distance. A powerful force known as the “nuclear force” works on protons which form a zone of positive electricity and repulse each other, so that nuclear fusion can progress instantaneously.

It is currently thought that this can only be achieved either by compression at several 10 billion atmospheres, or by accelerating hydrogen at 10,000 volts to cause it to collide.

In the public demonstration, palladium atoms in the form of nanoparticles collected in a lattice arrangement were introduced into an evacuated cell, and deuterium gas containing a neutron in the atomic nucleus was injected. Helium was detected several 100,000-fold that contained in the atmosphere. Thirty kilojoules of heat was reported to be generated, corresponding to one gram of coal.

According to Professor Emeritus Arata, “Four deuterium atoms are condensed in between palladium atoms, which can typically accommodate less than one, and the electrons and atomic nuclei pull against each other to approach each other so that the nuclear force operates, and a nuclear fusion reaction begins without the addition of external energy such as heat.”

Nuclear fusion at normal temperatures was reported by a team of U.S. and British researchers in 1989. That gave rise to a great deal of enthusiastic research, which even became a social phenomenon, but various follow-up experiments did not reproduce the results.

Although different approaches have been proposed by various researchers in Japan and other countries, no conclusive proof of nuclear fusion at normal temperatures has been arrived at, due to significant variations in measurements of the amount of heat produced.

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