Andrea Rossi has reacted angrily to repeated questioning over details of the precise involvement (or not) of the University of Bologna in the continuing research and development of his E-Cat device. The recently published article by Steven Krivit indicated that a contract between the University and Rossi and his partners had been terminated owing to the non-payment of promised funds from the sale of the 1MW plant last October. The University had appeared to have left the way open to the independent testing of the E-Cat.

Questioned on his Journal of Nuclear Physics blog, Rossi responded by saying “I do not understand all this fuss around the University of Bologna stuff: We, the E-Cat people, make R&D with consultants, suppliers, partners and universities we choose time by time for specific tasks and this does not belong to public information. What counts for the public is that our products work properly. As usual the puppet snakes are making much ado for nothing, with the help of some primadonna (or wannabe so).”

As ever, we get good value from Rossi in terms of entertainment, but little or nothing in terms of hard facts. Whilst we appreciate that Krivit has not exactly endeared himself to Rossi in recent months, there seems little point in exchanging a bit of public mud-slinging. We would much rather have a clear statement clarifying whether there ever was an agreement in place with Bologna regarding the sale of the first plant and what exactly is the situation regarding their present and future involvement in the project?

Although we can understand his borderline paranoia on the retention of specific details regarding his research, it would only take a bit of carefully chosen sentences to clear things up and everyone could go about their business. It is the lack of information that breeds suspicion and feeds the sceptics. Ny Teknik is now reporting that a new deal is being worked out between Rossi and National Instruments. Whether or not this is related to the on-going confusion regarding the University or Bologna or has been hastened by Defkalion’s recent invitation for independent testing of their Hyperion products is not clear. We can only hope for more clarity as 2012 progresses.