Maybe PR is what we need to get LENR through the current phase of
development.
I think of the W-L theory as the Politically Correct Roundabout Theory of
LENR. They go out of their way to proclaim loudly that it's not cold
fusion.
Original article, so it can be posted elsewhere:
| 3/14/2013 @ 12:35PM |612 views Tiny Nuclear Reactions Inside Compact
Fluorescent Bulbs?
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[image: Compact fluorescent light
bulb]http://commons.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Compact-Fluorescent-Bulb.jpg
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Harmless low-energy nuclear reactions may be taking place routinely inside
of compact fluorescent lightbulbs, according to a physicist whose theories
have NASA
researchershttp://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2013/02/22/nasa-a-nuclear-reactor-to-replace-your-water-heater/abuzz
with the prospect of cheap, non-polluting energy.
Nuclear reactions may be responsible for an unusual fingerprint of mercury
isotopes in used fluorescents that can identify environmental pollution
from the bulbs, said Lewis Larsen, a Chicago physicist associated with
the Widom-Larsen
Theory http://newenergytimes.com/v2/sr/WL/WLTheory.shtml, which explores
slow nuclear reactions among elements that are not radioactive.
“Unbeknownst to the general public, dynamically active nuclear processes
are presently occurring in tens of millions of households worldwide,”
Larsen told me.
“Fortunately, there aren’t any radiological health risks associated with
CFLs because no hard radiation is emitted from them, ” Larsen said, “ and
no environmentally hazardous, long-lived radioactive isotopes are typically
created by LENRs (low energy nuclear reactions).”
Larsen has suspected low energy nuclear reactions occur in CFLs, he told
me, and is encouraged by a February study of used bulbs that found isotopes
of mercury that more conventional theories cannot explain.
Move up http://i.forbesimg.com tMove down
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2013/02/22/nasa-a-nuclear-reactor-to-replace-your-water-heater/NASA:
A Nuclear Reactor To Replace Your Water Heater
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/2013/02/22/nasa-a-nuclear-reactor-to-replace-your-water-heater/[image:
Jeff McMahon]*Jeff McMahon*Contributorhttp://www.forbes.com/sites/jeffmcmahon/
The authors of that study analyzed used fluorescent bulbs looking for a
unique fingerprint of mercury isotopes. If they could find a unique
fingerprint, researchers could identify mercury pollution in the
environment that comes from discarded fluorescents:
“All fluorescent lamps use mercury (Hg) and can be a source of Hg to the
environment when broken,” write the authors, led by Chris Mead of Arizona
State University’s Global Institute of Sustainability, in a February issue
of Environmental Science and
Technologyhttp://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/es303940p(subscription
required).
As compact fluorescents command a larger share of the lighting market, the
researchers expect mercury pollution from the bulbs to increase:
“The share of atmospheric anthropogenic Hg emissions represented by
fluorescent lightbulbs in the United States is 1–5 percent. Only a third of
fluorescent lightbulbs are recycled. As fluorescent lighting continues to
supplant incandescent lighting, and as emissions from large point sources
of Hg, such as coal-fired power plants and municipal waste incinerators are
reduced, fluorescents will become an increasingly important source of Hg to
the environment. Therefore, a method to detect and quantify Hg derived from
fluorescents would be very useful.”
The researchers found their unique fingerprint for mercury from fluorescent
bulbs. But they can’t explain why it’s so unique:
“The trapped Hg of used CFL show unusually large isotopic fractionation
(the distribution of mercury into its various isotopes), the pattern of
which is entirely different from that which has been observed in previous
Hg isotope research aside from intentional isotope enrichment.”
Larsen believes he knows why the mercury isotopes in used CFLs are
different:
“When viewed through the conceptual lens of the Widom-Larsen theory, Mead
et al.’s carefully collected Hg isotope data suggests that low energy
nuclear reaction (LENR) transmutations may actually be occurring at
extremely low rates in CFLs during normal operation,” he said.
And that should make the idea of home nuclear reactors less frightening,
Larsen said.
“If this outstanding new data is substantiated by further experimentation,
it provides yet more proof that LENRs are likely to be a truly ‘green,’
safe nuclear technology.”
Larsen hopes to demonstrate that low-energy nuclear reactions are safe,
green and commonplace in part to distinguish them from fission reactions
that produce dangerous ionizing radiation in conventional reactors. He has
found
