I wrote:
Friedman is buddy-buddy with one of the other hard-core opponents . . .
I did not mean to include the word "other" here, which implies that
Friedman is a hard-core opponent. I doubt that he knows much about
it. But he did mention his good friend who is in the opponent's camp.
As I recall, it was Lewis. If Friedman ever thought about the
subject, I expect he asked Lewis, and I know what the answer would be.
Lewis is a jerk. I printed out the entire NSF/EPRI conference and I
am reading all papers and comments carefully. Lewis gave a good
presentation laying out potential problems with cold fusion,
especially recombination and the separation factor that may
concentrate tritium in the electrolyte. Then he sits through several
presentations that prove beyond question his concerns are moot. They
are legitimate, but they they were tested for and ruled out. He asks
the speakers detailed questions to confirm this. So, why didn't he
say so, publicly?!? He should have announced: "although the problems
I cited earlier in the year are real, recent research has ruled them
out." What's the matter with that?
Lewis starts his presentation by saying that electrochemists all know
what he has to say, and the presentation is for people in other
fields. Fair enough. It it is a fine presentation, well worth
reading. The thing is, he is sitting there with the creme de la creme
of 20th century electrochemistry: Fleischmann, Bockris, Huggins,
McKubre and others. Does he think they have not heard of
recombination? When they demonstrate that recombination can't
possibly be an issue, because they used closed cells and for other
reasons, why doesn't he acknowledge that?!? Also in attendance are
leading experts in tritium, such as Storms and Talcott (Carol -- now
Miz. S.). They and others demonstrate many reasons why separation
cannot be an issue. Talcott displays a slide with a co-author's v.c.:
Roland A. Jalbert
*25 years working with tritium and tritium detection
* involved in the development, design, and inplementation of tritium
instrumentation for 15 years
* for 12 years he has had prime responsibility for the design, implementation,
and maintainance of all tritium instrumentation at a major fusion
technology development facility (Tritium Systems Test Assembly).
* Consultant on tritium instrumentation to other fusion energy facilities
for 10 years (Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor at Princton)
So why the heck does Lewis still, to this day, claim these people
don't know tritium when they see it? I am sure he did not sleep
through the presentations, because he made comments. (All Q&A
comments are transcribed, and some are more interesting than the papers.)
The two irritating Nates were at this meeting: Nate Lewis and Nate
Hoffman. Alan Bard of the ERAB panel was also there, and also irritating.
- Jed
