Aug. 24, 2015 – By Steven B. Krivit –

For the first time in two decades, the Japanese government has issued a request for proposals for low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR) research, according to information recently obtained by New Energy Times.

The request for proposals was published by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a national research and development agency.

The request for proposals, "Energy and the Environment New Leading Technology Program," was released in July. The line item for the LENR research is on PDF Page 16, item D4. The item translates to "Metal which becomes new energy source and analysis and control of the technology of heat reactions between metals and hydrogen."

New Energy Times spoke with Aya Iwasuji, at the Silicon Valley office of NEDO, and exchanged several e-mails with her about the program, which is also funding 10 other areas of new-energy research.

"The budget for this program this year is ¥3,410,000,000 [$27 million]," Iwasuji wrote.

In response to a request for more details about item D4, Iwasuji referred New Energy Times to NEDO’s Japan headquarters. A NEDO representative responded on Aug. 13.

"Unfortunately," the representative wrote, "we can’t give you any information about item D4 other than the title that you see at the Web site. We decided the title based on information from another organization which has agreed to non-disclosure. We appreciate your understanding."

The request for proposals had been at the Japanese NEDO site at this location. Between the time we made our inquiry and the time we published this article, the file was removed. New Energy Times preserved a copy here.

In a response to an e-mail from New Energy Times, long-time LENR researcher Tadahiko Mizuno confirmed that item D4 is for LENRs. Some Japanese LENR researchers, according to Mizuno, are filing a joint application to NEDO, with the assistance of Akito Takahashi, a former professor at Osaka University.

Takahashi has also been affiliated with Technova, a member of the Toyota Motor Corp. family of businesses. Takahashi did not respond to an e-mail from New Energy Times.

In June 2014, according to the application guidelines, the Japanese government announced the program objectives in "Japan Revitalization Strategy — Japan’s Challenge for the Future." Since the tsunami that caused the failures at the Fukushima Daiichi reactors in 2011, the Japanese government has been under pressure to provide its citizens with alternative energy sources.

NEDO is part of the Japanese National Research and Development Agency. NEDO’s objectives are to "solve energy problems through integrated management of technology development from the discovery of technology seeds to the promotion of mid- to long-term projects and support for practical application."

Major Japanese corporations, including Toyota Central Research Labs and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, have been active in LENR research for more than a decade. In 1994, the Japanese government, through the Ministry of Trade and Industry, sponsored an earlier research program called the New Hydrogen Energy Agency. It ran for several years at a cost of several million dollars. It terminated after researchers reported lackluster results.

In 2013, Toyota published a confirmation of Mitsubishi’s LENR transmutation results in the peer-reviewed Japanese Journal of Applied Physics.

Jan. 29, 2015 – By Steven B. Krivit –

Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works group created widespread publicity in October 2014 with its claim that it would be delivering a working prototype of a fusion reactor within five years. It also created a wave of enthusiasm and excitement among science and technology enthusiasts.

For 60 years, scientists have been attempting to harness controlled nuclear fusion on the Earth. Despite the expenditure of tens of billions of dollars and the dedication of massive international science and engineering efforts, no one has succeeded.

Among the dozens of experimental fusion reactors that have been built since the 1950s, not one has produced a single milliwatt of excess heat. Lockheed’s claims therefore, are surprising and call for careful analysis.

However, despite the public relations campaign, Lockheed Martin has no public data, no published paper and no prototype to share. On Dec. 23, 2014, New Energy Times sent the following questions to Geneva Greene and Heather Kelso in Lockheed Martin media relations.

1. Are your future projections (as promoted/described on your Web site) for the practical applications of the Compact Fusion Reactor based on experimental evidence, theoretical evidence, or both?
2. In your most successful experiment so far, what was the highest heat output in watts?
3. Was that heat value directly measured, or was it calculated based on measured neutron emission?
3. During that peak output, what was the total system (electrical or otherwise) power input in watts?
4. What was the duration of this peak heat output?

Kelso responded to New Energy Times the same day.

“Unfortunately our compact fusion spokesperson/subject matter expert is out the office until Jan. 5,” Kelso wrote. “The compact fusion team has proven they could design, build and test a reactor in one year because of its small size, and they project needing 10 iterations to become operational. Though, this is contingent on many factors, including continued financial support. Right now they’re in the midst of an experimental campaign and will be publishing results likely later in 2015.”

New Energy Times responded, on Dec. 23, 2014, with another question to Kelso and Greene. “What papers have been either published or accepted for publication in peer-reviewed journals?” On Jan. 14, 2015, Kelso responded.

“We have not released our quantitative data and do not have public releasable data to provide at this time,” Kelso wrote.

Nov. 21, 2014 – By Steven B. Krivit –

New Energy Times has learned that low-energy nuclear reactions (LENRs) will be featured in a conference at Magdalen College in the United Kingdom on Jan. 10-11, 2015.

The conference is being organized by Angelo Ovidi and Michel Vandenberghe. Ovidi is the chief executive officer of Kressen Ltd., based in the United Kingdom. Vandenberghe is the president of LENR-Cities, a small Swiss startup.

Ovidi contacted New Energy Times yesterday, but he does not have a tentative agenda or list of speakers yet.