A sample of the fuel was taken before the test as the fuel was being loaded. The assay of that fuel was shown to be comprised of a normal nickel isotopic mix. All the nickel fuel particles were covered with lithium 7 enriched to 94%.
The ash sample was melted onto the inside of the reactor and gad to be peeled off with a pick. How could Rossi melt that ash sample that was far bigger than 100 microns, when the fuel contained nickel particles that were all below 100 microns as shown by the analysis to the fuel after the test,. The nickel ash was pure but was covered with lithium 6 at 56% concentration.
I like these sort of hinge issues. If it was true that the ash sample was melted and had to be pried off, then it goes towards the possibility that Rossi didn't fraudulently add Nickel to the ash. But we are probably not likely to know the truth, even after this trial because that's not the sort of thing lawyers focus on. And we don't have verifiable evidence that this was the case.
The evidence doesn't favor either conclusion, that Rossi is an ingenious fraud nor that he's a genius businessman inventor. The evidence favors that he's a tragic inventor who regularly cuts corners in business and this is likely to be his downfall. He will probably die like Patterson and his data will die with him. In mercato bullshitas.