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Scientists worldwide have been quietly investigating low-energy nuclear reactions
(LENR) for the past 20 years. Researchers in this controversial field are now claiming
paradigm-shifting results, including generation of large amounts of excess heat,
nuclear activity and transmutation of ekments. I ' 2,3 Although no current theory exists
to explain all the reported phenomena, some scientists now believe quantum-level
nuclear reactions may be occurring. DIA assesses with high con fidence that if LENR
can produce nuclear-origin energy at room temperatures, this disruptive technology
could revolutionize energy production and storage, since nuclear reactions release
millions of times more energy per unit mass than do any known chemical fuel.'' 5
Background
In 1989, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons announced that their electrochemical experiments had
produced excess energy under standard temperature and pressure conditions. 6 Because they could not
explain this physical phenomenon based on known chemical reactions, they suggested the excess heat
could be nuclear in origin. However, their experiments did not show the radiation or radioactivity
expected from a nuclear reaction. Many researchers attempted to replicate the results and failed, As a
result, the physics community disparaged their work as lacking credibility, and the press mistakenly
dubbed it "cold fusion." Related research also suffered from the negative publicity of cold fusion for the
past 20 years, but many scientists believed something important was occurring and continued their
research with little or no visibility. For years, scientists were intrigued by the possibility of producing
large amounts of clean energy through LENR, and now this research has begun to be accepted in the
scientific community as reproducible and legitimate.
Source Summary Statement
This assessment is based on analysis of a wide body of intelligence reporting, most of which is open
source information including scientific briefings, peer-reviewed technical journals, international scientific
conference proceedings, interviews with scientific experts and technical media. While there is little
classified data on this topic due to the S&T nature of the information and the lack of collection, DIA
judges that these open sources generally provide the most reliable intelligence available on this topic.
The information in this report has been corroborated and reviewed by U.S. technology experts who are
Familiar with the data and the international scientists involved in this work.
Although much skepticism remains, LENR programs are receiving increased support
worldwide, including state sponsorship and funding from major corporations.'' 8 ' 9 ' 10 DIA
assesses that Japan and Italy are leaders in the field, although Russia, China, Israel, and
India I are devoting significant resources to this work in the hope of finding a new clean
energy source. Scientists worldwide have been reporting anomalous excess heat
production, as well as evidence of nuclear particles 12" 14 and transmutation. I5 ' 16. 17
"¢ Y. Iwamura l8 at Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries first detected transmutation of
elements when permeating deuterium through palladium metal in 2002.
"¢ Researchers led by Y. Arata at Osaka University in Japan 19 and a team led by
V.Violante at ENEA in Italy (the Italian National Agency for New Technologies,
Energy, and the Environment—the equivalent to the U.S. Department of Energy) 2°
also made transmutation claims.
"¢ Additional indications of transmutation have been reported in China, Russia, France,
Ukraine, and the United States. 21 ' 22
"¢ Researchers in Japan, Italy, Israel, and the United States have all reported detecting
evidence of nuclear particle emissions. 23. 24
"¢ Chinese researchers described LENR experiments in 1991 that generated so much
heat that they caused an explosion that was not believed to be chemical in origin. 25
"¢ Japanese, French, and U.S. scientists also have reported rapid, high-energy LENR
releases leading to laboratory explosions, according to scientific journal articles from
1992 to 2009. 26' 27
"¢ Israeli scientists reported in 2008 that they have applied pulsating electrical currents
to their LENR experiments to increase the excess energy production. 28
"¢ As of January 2008, India was reportedly considering restarting its LENR program
after 14 years of dormancy. 29
U.S. LENR researchers also have reported results that support the phenomena of
anomalous heat, nuclear particle production, and transmutation. 3°. 31 ' 32
"¢ At the March 2009 American Chemical Society annual meeting, researchers at U.S.
Navy SPAWAR Pacific reported excess energy, 33 nuclear particles, 34 and
transmutation, 35 ' 36 stating that these effects were probably the result of nuclear
reactions. 37
"¢ A research team at the U.S. company SRI International has been studying the
electrochemistry and kinetics of LENR since the early 1990's, reporting excess heat
and helium production. 38
2
"¢ In May 2002, researchers at JET Thermal in Massachusetts reported excess heat and
optimal operating points for LENR manifolds. 39
"¢ Researchers at the China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center in California first reported
anomalous power correlated with Helium-4 production in 1996. 40
Although no one theory currently exists to explain all the observed LENR phenomena,
some scientists now believe these nuclear reactions may be small-scale deuterium fusion
occurring in a palladium metal lattice. 41. 42 ' 43 Some others still believe the heat evolution
can be explained by non-nuclear means. Another possibility is that LENR may involve
an intricate combination of fusion and fission triggered by unique chemical and physical
configurations on a nanoscale leve1. 44' 45 This body of research has produced evidence
that nuclear reactions may be occurring under conditions not previously believed
possible. Recent results suggest these anomalous LENR phenomena can be triggered by
various energetic stimuli (electric and magnetic fields, acoustic waves, infrared, lasers) 46
'
47 and may have a variety of operational modes.
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion as currently understood occurs only in the core of stars, in nuclear weapons, in high
temperature plasmas, or in inertially confined high-energy collisions. Scientists for years have attempted
to harness nuclear fusion through high-temperature plasma techniques but have been unable to produce
more energy output than supplied. Fusion was once thought to be the answer to the world's future clean
energy needs, but after 60 years of research still has yet to live up to this promise. "Hot" fusion
researchers do not believe fusion can occur at near-room temperatures based on the Coulomb barrier that
repels like nuclear charges and have dismissed much of the "cold fusion" research conducted since 1989.
As a result, such research has received limited funding and support over the past 20 years.
Potential Applications of LENR: The Technology Surprise Factor
LENR's potential as a future clean energy source is still unknown. However, recent
results indicating nuclear activity and transmutation are intriguing and pose the following
questions:
"¢ If the excess heat from these experiments could be captured and intensified, could
LENR be used as a power source for engines, batteries, or other equipment?
"¢ If nuclear particles could be generated and transmute elements, could LENR be used
to mitigate hazardous waste or to neutralize weapons of mass destruction? 48
"¢ If the various modes of energy production could be identified and optimized, could
LENR be used to create designer materials or critical resources that are in short
supply or serve as a tailored, "dial-a-mode" power source?
"¢ If rapid, explosive energy output can occur in one or several modes, could LENR
serve as a new high-energy-density explosive?
International LENR research was highlighted in April 2009 on a U.S. television program
focused on the 20th anniversary of the Fleischman and Pons announcement. 49 Many U.S.
researchers are collaborating with foreign scientists, but each team has proprietary
aspects of their experiments that are not shared. Because some peer-reviewed journals
are reluctant to review or publish LENR data due to past controversies, most results are
presented at international conferences, and foreign scientists have access to much of the
U.S. data. In addition, U.S. experts have been invited to brief on LENR to nuclear
institutes in India, 5° Belgium, 5 and South Korea, 52 and a reciprocal visit by South
Koreans to SPAWAR Pacific to initiate collaboration is planned. This relatively free
flow of information increases the likelihood of a technology breakthrough—as well as the
potential for technology surprise—by an international team, especially those from
countries that are devoting more resources to this research than is the United States, and
are supported with major corporate funding (Mitsubishi, Toyota, and Honda in Japan;
Pirelli in Italy). 53
The Experiments
Most LENR experiments involve electrodes immersed in solutions of metal salts such as lithium chloride
or lithium sulfate, with heavy water substituted for natural water. Electric current is sent through the
experimental apparatus, in most instances producing excess heat, This effect occurs over long periods
(several hundreds of hours), and many early experimenters achieved negative results because they were
unaware of this incubation period. Israeli researchers used pulsating electric fields to increase heat
production. The application of magnetic fields has been shown to stimulate increased heat and power.
Usually one of the electrodes is palladium, because it has a high ability to adsorb (hold on the surface)
and absorb deuterium atoms in its metal matrix. Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen that undergoes
fusion in nuclear weapons at high temperatures and pressures; it also undergoes fusion and is one of the
basic building blocks of the heavier elements formed in stars. The Navy SPAWAR experiments used a
unique technique to place the palladium atoms in the heavy-water solution and to codeposit palladium and
deuterium, which rapidly increases the deuterium "loading" necessary for the LENR phenomena to occur,
http://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/BarnhartBtechnology.pdf
(LENR) for the past 20 years. Researchers in this controversial field are now claiming
paradigm-shifting results, including generation of large amounts of excess heat,
nuclear activity and transmutation of ekments. I ' 2,3 Although no current theory exists
to explain all the reported phenomena, some scientists now believe quantum-level
nuclear reactions may be occurring. DIA assesses with high con fidence that if LENR
can produce nuclear-origin energy at room temperatures, this disruptive technology
could revolutionize energy production and storage, since nuclear reactions release
millions of times more energy per unit mass than do any known chemical fuel.'' 5
Background
In 1989, Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons announced that their electrochemical experiments had
produced excess energy under standard temperature and pressure conditions. 6 Because they could not
explain this physical phenomenon based on known chemical reactions, they suggested the excess heat
could be nuclear in origin. However, their experiments did not show the radiation or radioactivity
expected from a nuclear reaction. Many researchers attempted to replicate the results and failed, As a
result, the physics community disparaged their work as lacking credibility, and the press mistakenly
dubbed it "cold fusion." Related research also suffered from the negative publicity of cold fusion for the
past 20 years, but many scientists believed something important was occurring and continued their
research with little or no visibility. For years, scientists were intrigued by the possibility of producing
large amounts of clean energy through LENR, and now this research has begun to be accepted in the
scientific community as reproducible and legitimate.
Source Summary Statement
This assessment is based on analysis of a wide body of intelligence reporting, most of which is open
source information including scientific briefings, peer-reviewed technical journals, international scientific
conference proceedings, interviews with scientific experts and technical media. While there is little
classified data on this topic due to the S&T nature of the information and the lack of collection, DIA
judges that these open sources generally provide the most reliable intelligence available on this topic.
The information in this report has been corroborated and reviewed by U.S. technology experts who are
Familiar with the data and the international scientists involved in this work.
Although much skepticism remains, LENR programs are receiving increased support
worldwide, including state sponsorship and funding from major corporations.'' 8 ' 9 ' 10 DIA
assesses that Japan and Italy are leaders in the field, although Russia, China, Israel, and
India I are devoting significant resources to this work in the hope of finding a new clean
energy source. Scientists worldwide have been reporting anomalous excess heat
production, as well as evidence of nuclear particles 12" 14 and transmutation. I5 ' 16. 17
"¢ Y. Iwamura l8 at Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries first detected transmutation of
elements when permeating deuterium through palladium metal in 2002.
"¢ Researchers led by Y. Arata at Osaka University in Japan 19 and a team led by
V.Violante at ENEA in Italy (the Italian National Agency for New Technologies,
Energy, and the Environment—the equivalent to the U.S. Department of Energy) 2°
also made transmutation claims.
"¢ Additional indications of transmutation have been reported in China, Russia, France,
Ukraine, and the United States. 21 ' 22
"¢ Researchers in Japan, Italy, Israel, and the United States have all reported detecting
evidence of nuclear particle emissions. 23. 24
"¢ Chinese researchers described LENR experiments in 1991 that generated so much
heat that they caused an explosion that was not believed to be chemical in origin. 25
"¢ Japanese, French, and U.S. scientists also have reported rapid, high-energy LENR
releases leading to laboratory explosions, according to scientific journal articles from
1992 to 2009. 26' 27
"¢ Israeli scientists reported in 2008 that they have applied pulsating electrical currents
to their LENR experiments to increase the excess energy production. 28
"¢ As of January 2008, India was reportedly considering restarting its LENR program
after 14 years of dormancy. 29
U.S. LENR researchers also have reported results that support the phenomena of
anomalous heat, nuclear particle production, and transmutation. 3°. 31 ' 32
"¢ At the March 2009 American Chemical Society annual meeting, researchers at U.S.
Navy SPAWAR Pacific reported excess energy, 33 nuclear particles, 34 and
transmutation, 35 ' 36 stating that these effects were probably the result of nuclear
reactions. 37
"¢ A research team at the U.S. company SRI International has been studying the
electrochemistry and kinetics of LENR since the early 1990's, reporting excess heat
and helium production. 38
2
"¢ In May 2002, researchers at JET Thermal in Massachusetts reported excess heat and
optimal operating points for LENR manifolds. 39
"¢ Researchers at the China Lake Naval Air Warfare Center in California first reported
anomalous power correlated with Helium-4 production in 1996. 40
Although no one theory currently exists to explain all the observed LENR phenomena,
some scientists now believe these nuclear reactions may be small-scale deuterium fusion
occurring in a palladium metal lattice. 41. 42 ' 43 Some others still believe the heat evolution
can be explained by non-nuclear means. Another possibility is that LENR may involve
an intricate combination of fusion and fission triggered by unique chemical and physical
configurations on a nanoscale leve1. 44' 45 This body of research has produced evidence
that nuclear reactions may be occurring under conditions not previously believed
possible. Recent results suggest these anomalous LENR phenomena can be triggered by
various energetic stimuli (electric and magnetic fields, acoustic waves, infrared, lasers) 46
'
47 and may have a variety of operational modes.
Nuclear Fusion
Nuclear fusion as currently understood occurs only in the core of stars, in nuclear weapons, in high
temperature plasmas, or in inertially confined high-energy collisions. Scientists for years have attempted
to harness nuclear fusion through high-temperature plasma techniques but have been unable to produce
more energy output than supplied. Fusion was once thought to be the answer to the world's future clean
energy needs, but after 60 years of research still has yet to live up to this promise. "Hot" fusion
researchers do not believe fusion can occur at near-room temperatures based on the Coulomb barrier that
repels like nuclear charges and have dismissed much of the "cold fusion" research conducted since 1989.
As a result, such research has received limited funding and support over the past 20 years.
Potential Applications of LENR: The Technology Surprise Factor
LENR's potential as a future clean energy source is still unknown. However, recent
results indicating nuclear activity and transmutation are intriguing and pose the following
questions:
"¢ If the excess heat from these experiments could be captured and intensified, could
LENR be used as a power source for engines, batteries, or other equipment?
"¢ If nuclear particles could be generated and transmute elements, could LENR be used
to mitigate hazardous waste or to neutralize weapons of mass destruction? 48
"¢ If the various modes of energy production could be identified and optimized, could
LENR be used to create designer materials or critical resources that are in short
supply or serve as a tailored, "dial-a-mode" power source?
"¢ If rapid, explosive energy output can occur in one or several modes, could LENR
serve as a new high-energy-density explosive?
International LENR research was highlighted in April 2009 on a U.S. television program
focused on the 20th anniversary of the Fleischman and Pons announcement. 49 Many U.S.
researchers are collaborating with foreign scientists, but each team has proprietary
aspects of their experiments that are not shared. Because some peer-reviewed journals
are reluctant to review or publish LENR data due to past controversies, most results are
presented at international conferences, and foreign scientists have access to much of the
U.S. data. In addition, U.S. experts have been invited to brief on LENR to nuclear
institutes in India, 5° Belgium, 5 and South Korea, 52 and a reciprocal visit by South
Koreans to SPAWAR Pacific to initiate collaboration is planned. This relatively free
flow of information increases the likelihood of a technology breakthrough—as well as the
potential for technology surprise—by an international team, especially those from
countries that are devoting more resources to this research than is the United States, and
are supported with major corporate funding (Mitsubishi, Toyota, and Honda in Japan;
Pirelli in Italy). 53
The Experiments
Most LENR experiments involve electrodes immersed in solutions of metal salts such as lithium chloride
or lithium sulfate, with heavy water substituted for natural water. Electric current is sent through the
experimental apparatus, in most instances producing excess heat, This effect occurs over long periods
(several hundreds of hours), and many early experimenters achieved negative results because they were
unaware of this incubation period. Israeli researchers used pulsating electric fields to increase heat
production. The application of magnetic fields has been shown to stimulate increased heat and power.
Usually one of the electrodes is palladium, because it has a high ability to adsorb (hold on the surface)
and absorb deuterium atoms in its metal matrix. Deuterium is an isotope of hydrogen that undergoes
fusion in nuclear weapons at high temperatures and pressures; it also undergoes fusion and is one of the
basic building blocks of the heavier elements formed in stars. The Navy SPAWAR experiments used a
unique technique to place the palladium atoms in the heavy-water solution and to codeposit palladium and
deuterium, which rapidly increases the deuterium "loading" necessary for the LENR phenomena to occur,
http://www.lenr-canr.org/acrobat/BarnhartBtechnology.pdf
