Here’s a question I posted today on the Journal of Nuclear Physics, and Andrea Rossi’s response:
Dear Andrea,
Can you comment on how successful your team has been so far in solving the problems you have encountered with the 1 MW plant?
Many thanksAndrea Rossi
December 3rd, 2014 at 8:11 AM
Frank Acland:
I would say that the mail [sic — sure he means main] problems have been resolved, but we have to see what happens in a long term operation. We must reach that kind of reliability that henry Ford reached when he decided to sell the Ford T in massive quantities. It takes time. This first plant working in the factory of a Customer that has to get industrial profit from it must reach the perfection to make us satisfied.
Warm Regards,
A.R.
This reads like good news to me. My guess is that the problems they had been dealing with are issues of controlling the 100+ reactors. Rossi has mentioned that they have 111 computers to manage the plant, and from what he writes here, it would seem those major problems of control have been successful.
When he says “we have to see what happens in a long term operation,” it sounds like the plant is running (it is designed to run 24/7, producing steam), and they have to monitor its operation over days, weeks and months. Certainly there could be issues to deal with, but maybe they have been able to keep things tamed, for the time being, at least.