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TRANSMUTATIONS OF NUCLEAR WASTE by Robert A. Nelson © 1999, 2000 lated events working at an atomic level..." Shoulders offers an ad hoc explanation of these results as being "due largely to a nuclear cluster reaction having an unknown form of coherence". Other researchers (Rod Neal, Stan neon. Valve metals (whose oxides emit electrons) can be excited to produce gal- vano-luminescence in aqueous solution. When the charge gradient exceeds a critical threshold (i.e., one million volts), sparks are produced in the form of charge clusters which are believed to be the active mecha- nism in this method of transmutation. In their reports of the experimental results, Neal and Gleeson et al. noted: "Because there is a close agreement between the reduction in thorium and the reduction of radioactivity of the thorium daughter products, it is assumed that the Neal-Gleeson Process has about the same capability to change both thorium nuclei and the nuclei of the daughter products into other elements which are not radioactive... "A process which can cause the higher atomic number elements to be split into smaller elements appears to be a desirable method by which certain radioactive elements can be handled. It is highly desirable to be able to select process-control parameters so that only stable daughter nuclei of the parent elements are produced. In this way, the radioactivity of today's highly radioactive slurries can be ameliorated." oon after Pons and Fleischmann Gnomes the discovery of Cold Fusion (CF) in 1989, researchers began to announce the anomalous produc- tion of elements, beginning with helium and tritium and continuing into the heavy atoms. By 1995, about 120 papers had reported the CF production of tritium in experiments with palladium. In the early 1990s, physicist Ken Shoulders received five patents for his dis- covery of the High Density Charge Cluster (HDCC), "a relatively discrete, self-con- tained, negatively charged, high-density state of matter...[a bundle of electrons that] appears to be produced by the application of a high electrical field between a cathode and an anode" (i.e., 2-10 kV at the tip of a sharply pointed electrode). It can also be described as "a spherical monopole oscilla- tor". Shoulders has given it the name "Electrum Validum" (EV), meaning "strong electron", from the Greek elektron (electronic charge) and the Latin valere (to be strong, having power to unite). EVs have been credited with accomplishing CF transmutations. Ken Shoulders also invented a method of Plasma-Injected Transmutation for the remediation of nuclear waste by EVs, and has demonstrated the complete elimination of radioactivity in high-level nuclear material.'* EVs apparently function as a collective accelerator with sufficient energy to inject a large group of nuclei into a target and promote nuclear cluster reactions. The composition of EVs allows for the inclu- sion of some 10° nuclides. Ions can be added to EVs until the net charge becomes positive. Such EVs are called Nuclide-EVs (NEVs). According to Shoulders: "The NEV acts as an ultra-massive, neg- ative ion with high charge-to-mass ratio. This provides the function of a simple nuclear accelerator... Such nuclear reac- tions are fundamentally an event involving large numbers, and not one of widely iso- Ken Shoulders...has demonstrated the complete elimination of radioactivity in high-level nuclear material. complete elimination of radioactivity in high- -level nuclear or ee material. Gleeson, "the Cincinatti Group", William Barker, etc.) also filed for patents on simi- lar applications. The Neal-Gleeson Process has been shown to stabilise naturally radioactive solutions of thorium and urani- um compounds up to 70% within a few hours in an electrochemical reactor. Thorium can be fissioned into mercury and ~— mL —~. can NEXUS - 51 Ken Shoulders...has demonstrated the FEBRUARY — MARCH 2000