Reproducible generation of nuclear particles during electrolysis

ENVR 17

Richard A. Oriani, orian001@umn.edu, Department of Chemical Engineering and Material Science, University of Minnesota, 421 Washington Avenue SE, Minneapolis, MN 55455
Past research in this laboratory with CR39 plastic detectors has shown that electrolysis of solutions of lithium salts in either D2O or H2O can be accompanied by the generation of nuclear particles within the electrolyte and in the vapor phase above the electrolyte. However, not every electrolysis experiment yielded nuclear particles; reliable reproducibility was not attained. A different technique has now been developed which has successfully demonstrated the production of nuclear particles in each of 25 consecutive electrolysis experiments. Concurrent blank, or control, experiments have negated the possibility that radioactive contamination could have been responsible for the effects observed. Thus, a relatively simple and transparent technique has demonstrated that a nuclear process of an as-yet not understood mechanism can accompany a simple chemical reaction. This paradigm-breaking phenomenon poses a formidable challenge to theoreticians for elucidation of mechanism.