The announcement of a new purported clean source of energy came at a crucial time : adults still remembered the 1973 oil crisis and the problems caused by oil dependence , anthropogenic global warming was starting to become notorious , the anti-nuclear movement was labeling nuclear power plants as dangerous and getting them closed , people had in mind the consequences of strip mining , acid rain , the greenhouse effect and the Exxon Valdez oil spill , which happened the day after the announcement . In the press conference , Chase N. Peterson , Fleischmann and Pons , backed by the solidity of their scientific credentials , repeatedly assured the journalists that cold fusion would solve environmental problems , and would provide a limitless inexhaustible source of clean energy , using only seawater as fuel . They said the results had been confirmed dozens of times and they had no doubts about them . In the accompanying press release Fleischmann was quoted saying : " What we have done is to open the door of a new research area , our indications are that the discovery will be relatively easy to make into a usable technology for generating heat and power , but continued work is needed , first , to further understand the science and secondly , to determine its value to energy economics . " Although the experimental protocol had not been published , physicists in several countries attempted , and failed , to replicate the excess heat phenomenon . The first paper submitted to '' Nature '' reproducing excess heat , although it passed peer review , was rejected because most similar experiments were negative and there were no theories that could explain a positive result ; this paper was later accepted for publication by the journal '' Fusion Technology '' . Nathan Lewis , professor of chemistry at the California Institute of Technology , led one of the most ambitious validation efforts , trying many variations on the experiment without success , while CERN physicist Douglas R. O. Morrison said that " essentially all " attempts in Western Europe had failed . Even those reporting success had difficulty reproducing Fleischmann and Pons ' results . On 10 April 1989 , a group at Texas A&M University published results of excess heat and later that day a group at the Georgia Institute of Technology announced neutron production — the strongest replication announced up to that point due to the detection of neutrons and the reputation of the lab . On 12 April Pons was acclaimed at an ACS meeting . But Georgia Tech retracted their announcement on 13 April , explaining that their neutron detectors gave false positives when exposed to heat . Another attempt at independent replication , headed by Robert Huggins at Stanford University , which also reported early success with a light water control , became the only scientific support for cold fusion in 26 April US Congress hearings . But when he finally presented his results he reported an excess heat of only one degree Celsius , a result that could be explained by chemical differences between heavy and light water in the presence of lithium . He had not tried to measure any radiation and his research was derided by scientists who saw it later . For the next six weeks , competing claims , counterclaims , and suggested explanations kept what was referred to as " cold fusion " or " fusion confusion " in the news
Exxon Valdez oil spill
Exxon Valdez oil spill
Cold fusion