Mr Smartypants -
Depending on who you ask, the answer might be different, but here is my answer:
The current status: LENR type of anomalies seems to be rather well explored and established. The academics who has been working in this field has foremost focused on research using Palladium and Deuterium. Since a few years there has been a lot of focus on Nickel and Hydrogen instead. These new materials are much cheaper, abundant, as well is said to allow for a producing more energy.
The trial: There is a conflict of money, possible also IP, in regards to Andrea Rossi's E-cat technology. Andrea Rossi claims there is a contractual agreement that would require a licensee(I.H)to pay him a certain amount of money based on recent test. The licensee refutes this information, but have not told us why, yet.
Theories: There is plenty of theories. Too many in fact. People are guessing and filling in the blanks, but also it is believed that LENR is not one reaction, but a whole new field of reactions, so one theory might not necessarily be able to explain or account for all observations, yet. Also, as you know, just because one theory might explain one certain behaviour or observation, does not necessarily mean it is a correct theory.
Do any reactors work: The answer is subjective to who you ask, and who you are asking and why you are asking. But there is plenty of reports over the year from companies, garage researchers, military organisations and institute observing and claiming anomalous heat production, evidence of nuclear reactions etc Toyota and Mitsubishi are examples of companies that have put out positive reports. Really one would have to define a "working reactor", if you mean reactors capable of producing useful amounts of energy you have a few players such as Jet Energy, Brillouin Energy and Leonardo Corporations. Most amateur teams struggle with such a simple thing as to produce an replicable anomaly, such as elevated background radiation or low temp heat. Among reputable institutes you have NASA, ENEA etc.
Some people say they have something while it seems they dont, some people say they have nothing although it seems they do, some people say nothing and just get on with their research. There are also companies such as Brighlight Technology who seems to be doing something that could be very similar, they for example have went through well over 80 million dollars in funding by now.
At the end of the day - it comes down to belief for most people. You must believe in the scientists, in their reports, and you have to believe your own eyes and question if someone is trying to fool you or possible you yourself is trying to fool yourself. Give it some time, do your research and let me know what you decided to believe.
I recommend the webpage www.coldfusionvideos.com as a source of information of pro-lenr material. It could be a good place to start, from there you will find lots of links to various projects and papers. You could maybe start with the documentaries to get the basics.
