Did Dr. McKubre Let the E-Cat Out of the Bag?

Dr. McKubrie brought up an issue in his recent presentation at the Science Café that a friend and I have been discussing for months.

Lets say Rossi’s device not only does what he claims but does even more and is no doubt a nuclear reactor, “cold fusion”, LENR, whatever. In that case can he import a nuclear reactor into the U.S.? Or any other country for that matter? Does not he have to have a nuclear power plant license for each and every e-cat in the U.S. from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. How  about the Italian government? Would they not be required to license every e-cat he makes and would they not have to report each one to the IAEA? And what about any buyers? Would they not have to obtain nuclear power plant licenses.

Rossi’s only patent really does not say nuclear. Maybe that is best. If he doesn’t claim in the patent nuclear than does he need the licenses. He has indicated he would give theory of operation after the first one was sold. Does he really want to? If he does and it is nuclear than would the nuclear issue descend on his product. If he gives a false chemical theory it would be fraud. I believe only Focardi has made the claim it is nuclear but I believe Rossi has skirted that exact phrase. Focardi is an adviser not the company. Rossi has not given a theory yet.

Note the name he applied to the device “The E-cat” or energy catalyzer. He didn’t call it the Nuclearalyzer or the Atomic Energy Machine. If he did would that prevent import and impose licensing due to immediate bureaucratic scrutiny?

What about the U.S. DOE. They are in kind of a bind. If they continue to claim his product does not exist as a ”cold fusion” or any other type of nuclear reactor then they can not be  involved with nuclear regulation. But if D.O.E and the N.R.C, want to regulate his device than they would have to admit it was nuclear. This would bring wrath and extreme criticism on them for not admitting it earlier. Then because of all the regulations it would mean vast delays in implementation. Since Rossi’s has shrewdly made a lot of publicity about the e-cat the public would not stand for it. If DOE/NRC admitted the product was a real cold fusion device the public would definitely consider it real. The public would look to the product as a breakthrough technology that would be a great boon to the economy and everyone’s welfare. What if DOE/NRC admitted it was “cold fusion” or any similar nuclear title for the effect and then tried to claim it was dangerous? Rossi has made enough demonstrations with enough qualified witnesses that that would not be accepted. But DOE and those involved with ITER have a real problem. It will be recognized the billions of dollars and Euros spent of hot fusion without reasonable expense on cold fusion would be viewed as a grand fiasco. Heads might roll. In the U.S. certain people might be accused of treason for driving the research to other countries.

What about all the demonstrations Rossi has done? Would Rossi want to really prove it was nuclear? No I do not think so. He would just want to show it has more energy than competitive technologies. If he were to prove it was nuclear than here comes the licenses and government interference and regulation that would apply to uranium fission power plants. It really should not apply to this kind of device but would not regulatory agencies want to retain and guard their regulatory power. Rossi would not want to have that kind of regulation. Notice he keeps advertising a COP of 6. If he said COP of 35 would that be construed as it has to be nuclear. He runs the demonstrations in the self sustain mode just long enough to make most accept it works but allows for critics to claim various chemical power or other means. Rather slick I would say.

What about the critics? Rossi calls some normal critics, some pseudo-critics, and some snakes. I would guess the ones he labels snakes are competitors. But what about some of the pseudo-critics. Might some be Rossi’s own allies. Would he want enough doubt that the the nuclear people cannot label it a nuclear power plant. Might some of the most vocal critics actually be allies continually casting doubt that it works particularly as a nuclear device. Might Rossi’s goal be to get a lot of modules out there in the industrial world before there is any absolute consensus it is nuclear. If he does would it force governments to either exempt them or class them as some kind of new non threatening device.

Rossi may need the critics to keep blasting away.It might just work out just right for him. The only issue is this large contract for 13 one MW plants. Could a government claim they “discovered” it was nuclear and shut Rossi down if a government bought these. Again I thought it was very shrewd of Rossi to have numerous people present went the acceptance test was read out loud. The customer can not say his representative did not accept it and since there were radiation measurements made that showed nil above background radiation I guess it wasn’t nuclear. Rossi is going to have to do something like that for each unit or the politicians will outsmart him and arrest him for producing nuclear power plants with out proper licenses.

This issue of nuclear power plant  licensing tied to “cold fusion” will apply to others claiming this type of energy. So will there be a mechanism set up in the U.S. to benefit political insiders and top bureaucrats. So does Larson claim some form of mechanism that will circumvent this issue. Will Ahern claim some form of mechanism that will facilitate some way to get by this issue maybe with bureaucratic help. This whole issue may become similar to the wind turbine industry in the U.S. Significant percentage of the D,C, insiders are involved in the wind turbine industry. The rules are written to basically require and facilitate wind turbine power. Then those involved are invested through LLCs and and through that are benefited with production tax credits where they pay little to no personal income tax. Would not it be possible to set up something similar in the “cold fusion” arena. I note the U.S. P.O. has recently accepted  patents from NASA and from Ahern (former long time AIR Force researcher) associated with LENR even though they have been resistant to other cold fusion/LENR filings. Can the rule writers keep this for their own profit and is Rossi an outsider? Are some of the critics associated with insiders?

K.R.B.