Display MoreHigh energy... as in 12 million electron voltsper deuterium atom..12MeV/D ?
Cold fusion was dismissed for a number of reasons. including
1. it was too cold.. sufficient collisions could not happen at temperature less than 100 million K... according to theory
2. There was no ash... not enough neutrons/not enough gamma radiation commensurate with the anomalous heat produced..
not because there was no anomalous heat... the anomalous heat is always way above the heat produced by chemical reaction
... the patent office may conclude not enough burden of proof..
Thanks for the link to NEDO. Yes, an expectation of millions of electrons volts rather than energy in the range of chemistry. The rejection is called a judicial exception. Particularly, cold fusion is dismissed as an abstract idea. Abstract ideas are not patentable. For example fusion without the three evidence you mention could be an abstract idea if there were no other persuasive evidence generated by methods accept by person skilled in the art or if there is not reasonable evidence to suppose that a nuclear reaction could occur without those evidences.
Therefore, if a new theory shows the magnitude of coulomb barrier is lower when the target and projectile element nuclei have been modified from their ground state, then the patent office would then need to consider the evidence of such modification. If that modification changes the reaction under consideration (other than D to D fusion), then the other evidences you list also may not apply. So, then it becomes what are the evidences to support modification of nuclei and what are the persuasive evidences generated by methods accepted by person skilled in the art for the specific fusion equation.
Hence, a "colder fusion" patent grant depends on there being enough persuasive evidence to consider the invention significantly more than just an unproven concept. I believe a data derived equation of state for the fusion reaction is extraordinary evidence of fusion. It is hard to refute that evidence of fusion. The are many other arguments that an idea may be abstract instead of physical or concrete. Each argument will need to be considered, then the weight of the arguments is used to make a ruling.
So you can imagine I got a mailing about an inch and 1/2 thick against "cold fusion" concept set forth by Pons and Fleischmann. Which is non relevant but was send as weight of the evident against "cold fusion"