© Charles Moir 2011 Frequently Asked Questions As people learn more about the Rossi Cold Fusion Reactor, I see the same questions being asked again and again.  Here are some of the common questions and answers that I have researched.  Many of these answers have come directly from Rossi or Focardi. Is it Cold Fusion or is it L.E.N.R (Low Energy Nuclear Reactions)? It’s both. Some scientists working in this area dislike using the term Cold Fusion largely because of the negative connotations. Other less used terms you might see are LANR (Lattice Assisted Nuclear Reactions) and CANR (Chemical Assisted Nuclear Reactions).  However, since the new claim is that Nickel and Hydrogen fuse to form Copper, and that this happens at hundreds of degrees not millions, this claim is both ‘cold’ and nuclear fusion. I prefer plain English over unnecessary Jargon any day. Cold Fusion is a much catchier name for sure. I've read reports saying that the device produces electricity. That is incorrect. The Rossi reactor produces only heat. This could be, but has not yet been, used to drive a steam generator, to produce electricity. But this is not efficient on a small scale (you at least halve the energy in the conversion process). So presently his device is only useful for producing heat. So I won’t be able to use this to run my car? Nope, ‘fraid not, at least not in the near future. Although the device easily produces enough power to run any car, and in a small enough package, but it is unfortunately only as heat. Until there is a compact, reasonably efficient way to convert that heat into electricity to charge your battery powered car, a Fusion powered car is a little way off. But that challenge is not insurmountable and I do expect further down the road (ho ho) to see electric cars, charged from a continually running Rossi reactor. Or, of course, you could use it if you converted your car to use a steam engine. How much power can it produce? The initial demonstrations were of a 10kW device. That’s roughly equivalent to 5 typical electric fan heaters.  The later demonstrations were of a newer and smaller reactor which produced around 2.5kW.  Rossi has stated that the smaller devices are more stable and controllable. By combining devices you can scale this up to almost any degree. Rossi is currently building a 1MW device (one thousand kilowatts) made from hundreds of the smaller devices combined. The current plant is that this is going to be demonstrated in the last week of October 2011. This one-megawatt device is intended to be used by a Greek Company to heat its factory. Is the Rossi Device dangerous? No. It produces no external radiation (much to the consternation of the theoretical physicists who claim that it should produce huge amounts of lethal radiation). Lucky for everyone concerned it does not produce radiation. Rossi has stated that the device is also self-controlling. The worst case scenario (especially for Nuclear Fission reactors) is that a runaway uncontrolled reaction occurs. Rossi has stated that there are controls in place to prevent this happening, but that were the controls to stop working, the internal fuel powder melts and that stops the reaction continuing. So he claims it is inherently safe. Rossi has stated there are no radioactive products produced - the spent fuel is not radioactive. Why can’t I buy one? / When can I buy one? This is a brand new technology, still being developed. Apart from the first one- megawatt device being sold to a Greek company, there are no firm release plans. The Greek company says it has a license to manufacture and will start manufacturing at the end of this year. They have said it would be a consumer-scale device (probably like the 2.5kW devices that have been demonstrated) for use with home heating applications. How is it refuelled? How often is does it have to be refuelled? Rossi has stated that the first devices will operate continuously for 6 months. After that specialist engineers will need to visit the premises to exchange the heating unit. These are then recycled back at a Rossi factory. Is this device patented? Will other people copy it? Rossi is attempting to get patents around the world. He has succeeded in Italy, other patents are pending. It is thought unlikely that he will get a Patent in the US where it is claimed the US Patent office has a policy of refusing all patent claims on Cold Fusion devices. However, since he can demonstrate a working device that may be enough to overcome that particular hurdle. You can see his US patent application here. Rossi has stated that he will proceed to manufacture irrespective of whether he is granted a patent. In an attempt to prevent others working out the secrets, he has stated he will probably implement some self-destructive technology that will destroy the reactant fuel if the device is opened. History has shown that others will copy it, patent or not, or create very similar devices that are different enough to get around any patents. I fully expect that from 2012 onwards we will see a barrage of replication or similar devices being announced or demonstrated. Have other questions? If you have other questions about the device or anything about this website, fill in the form and I will try to find answers and add it to the this FAQ (or the sceptics page).