Low energy nuclear reactor (LENR) technology, and by extension palladium, is attracting the attention of one of the richest men in the world and a pioneer inventor of new technology.

LENR is science’s new approach to the 1990s’ concept of “cold fusion,” which failed spectacularly. However, by learn

Image courtesy of Steve Jurvetson: Bill Gates Speaks at TED2010 about the future of nuclear power

ing from previous mistakes, and by applying newly developed nano-technology, scientists around the world have since worked on ways of making LENR work.

In a recent visit to Italy, billionaire business man, investor and inventor Bill Gates said that for several years he has been a believer in the idea of LENR, and is a sponsor of companies developing the technology. Gates is not only the Chairman of TerraPower, a company developing a “new class of nuclear reactors using innovative core physics.” He is also a member of the American Energy Innovation Council and supporter of new technologies through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, which he founded in 2000.

In June of this year, he wrote a blog titled “We need Energy Miracles” to stress the importance of new technologies like LENR.

Tech Metals Insider previously reported on the technology, its “side effects” of creating precious metals, and its application by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries of Japan.

During his trip to Italy he visited the national agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic development (ENEA) where scientists have made significant progress towards a working design for low energy nuclear fusion. The centerpiece of their design is the same as in Mitsubishi’s: palladium.

Creating palladium foil with just the right parameters, and managing stress levels in the material was a key issue, one that the researchers at EMEA were able to resolve several years ago.

Nuclear Energy Times describes the state of LENR development as “laboratory experiments which have the potential to produce nuclear-scale energy and nuclear products but without the harmful effects of conventional nuclear energy.”

A palladium miracle in the making? It will take a while to find out, but LENR certainly has the attention of serious scientists and investors today who believe in its future.