As the world wonders what to do about existing nuclear fission power plants which process radioactive fuels and produce dangerous radioactive waste, Andrea Rossi asserts that it would be possible to replace the current reactors with E-Cat reactors which he maintains use or produce no hazardous materials.
On reader commented: “Maybe in the future your Ni-H reaction could replace the rods with Uranium in todays nuclear plants with only that change. It would save a LOT of money if it would be possible to use what is already built. Is the effect of your reaction big enough for that replacement?”
Rossi’s response: “I think that we should ready for an integration right now.”
If this is actually the case, there would be a tremendous opportunity for rapid integration of E-Cat technology into the existing electrical power infrastructure. We hear of Japan, Germany and other countries planning to phase out their nuclear power plants, while other countries are trying to decide how to move forward with safer nuclear power. Switching to E-Cat nuclear power would seem to be an obvious choice if it turns out to be a viable replacement in terms of the capacity for power output.
When another of Rossi’s reader’s asked, “would it not be also beneficial to utilize existing coal plants? They still generate steam, correct?”, Rossi answered simply, “Yes.”
One of the appeals of the E-Cat technology (if it works as advertised) is that it seems to be simple enough in engineering terms to be adapted to be used in existing power facilities. If nuclear plants can be adapted for the E-Cat, it should be possible to adapt coal, natural gas, oil and other types of power stations too. Eventually it would seem likely that E-Cat power stations would be built on a micro level — in communities and homes, thus avoiding the expense and power losses of long distance power transmission.
There are lots of unknowns about Rossi’s plans, but we’re only a few weeks away from finding out more of the E-Cat’s capabilities. It seems like Rossi may be focusing at first on trying to integrate E-Cat technology into what is already available.
