Rossi: “Every Day an Anxious Day” with 1MW Plant (Update: Latest Problem Fixed)

Lest we think everything is smooth sailing with the 1MW plant, there have been some posts by Andrea Rossi recently suggesting that the 1MW E-Cat plant still requires a lot of attention to keep it operating, and repairs are still taking place.

On November 5th Rossi reported there were some problems with the plant, and repairs were needed; later on in the day he noted that the plant had been repaired. Then, yesterday, Rossi reported that the plant was having “some problems,” and this morning he reports that it is “almost repaired.”

I asked Rossi this morning whether the current repair has required his team to take the plant offline, he replied, “partially yes.”

When a reader of the Journal of Nuclear Physics told Rossi today that he was a bit worried about what Rossi reported about these repairs, and the fact that these problems might delay the start of mass production, he responded:

Andrea Rossi
November 7th, 2015 at 8:02 AM
Marco Serra:
Of course I am worried. As I am saying repeatedly, the final results of the tests on course could be either positive or negative. Every day is an anxious day here. Also today. Thank you for your simpathy.
Warm Regards,
A.R.

When I asked him yesterday whether he still expected the test to conclude in February 2016, he replied, “yes,” however it appears that Rossi’s F9 mantra is not just a routine disclaimer; there seem to be enough problems with the plant to make him think that the results of the test are not a foregone conclusion.

UPDATE: A couple of Q&A on the JONP about the latest problems and fixed

Q: “The problems you have been experiencing on the 1MW eCat system — are the primarily associated with a specific 250kW reactor subunit? Or are the problems spread over multiple 250kW reactors? In engineering, a continuing defective component is known as a “weak sister”

A: The problems are “spread”.

Q: Is the problem with the 1 MW E-Cat depending on normal failures, like heat cracks, datarecording etc or on unknown issues?

A: It was unknown of, but now we have understood and fixed it.