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Journal of Fusion Energy

, Volume 9, Issue 3, pp 363–366 | Cite as

Limits of chemical effects on cold fusion

  • C. T. White
  • B. I. Dunlap
  • D. W. Brenner
  • R. C. Mowrey
  • J. W. Mintmire
Article

Abstract

Cold fusion enhanced by chemical confinement of deuterons has been suggested as an explanation of recent reports of the production of neutrons in electrochemically-generated palladium deuterides. To test this suggestion local-density-functional cluster calculations were used to study the coulomb barrier between two deuterons within the octahedral cage in crystalline palladium. The calculated repulsive forces were always greater than the corresponding forces between deuterons in molecular D2. These results imply that the room temperature fusion rate at this site is negligible.

Key words

Palladium-deuterides D2 clusters density-functional calculations 
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Copyright information

© Plenum Publishing Corporation 1990

Authors and Affiliations

  • C. T. White
    • 1
  • B. I. Dunlap
    • 1
  • D. W. Brenner
    • 1
  • R. C. Mowrey
    • 1
  • J. W. Mintmire
    • 1
  1. 1.Naval Research LaboratoryWashington, D.C.

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