Popa-Simil - Investigator sites log

Run 1: 2026-10-04 (first run; no earlier sites.md). Time limit 10 min. Web research ran about 5 min by date +%s (1791140563 to about 1791140873). Browser: Chrome (claude-in-chrome) in a new tab, closed at the end. Fallback used: curl for Google Patents pages and for PDF downloads, because Chrome text extraction returned nothing on patents.google.com.

Keywords tried

• "Popa-Simil" nano-hetero structure direct energy conversion
• "Popa-Simil" patent "direct nuclear energy conversion" site:patents.google.com
• Google Patents: inventor:Popa-Simil ; inventor:Liviu Popa-Simil ; "direct nuclear energy conversion" inventor:Popa-Simil
• "Popa-Simil" "CIci" OR "direct energy conversion" experiment ion beam measured current
• site:laro.lanl.gov Popa-Simil
• "Liviu Popa-Simil" IFIN OR Bucuresti OR Magurele OR "Los Alamos" biography
• multilayer nanostructure "fission fragment" direct energy conversion electricity insulator conductor layers experiment
• Safonov "fission-electric cell" RAND OR Sandia "magnetically insulated"
• "Advanced Space Nuclear Reactors from Fiction to Reality" Popa-Simil Physics Procedia
• Ursu Purica "fission electric cell" Romania
• "LAVM LLC" Los Alamos OR "Los Alamos Academy of Sciences" Popa-Simil SBIR OR contract OR grant
• Ануфриенко Чернов сверхмногослойных наноструктур прямого преобразования ядерной энергии
• Anufrienko Chernov "secondary electrons" OR "super-multilayer" direct conversion nuclear energy electricity

Not yet tried (next run): "I.L. Popa-Simil" / "Iulia Popa-Simil"; "Muntele" + "recoil implantation" + "U-120"; "Popa-Simil" Romanian spellings ("Popa Simil", "Popa-Simil Liviu" + IFIN-HH / ICEFIZ); "PuCoGa5" + "direct conversion"; "fission electric cell" JPL Krieve 1966; Safonov RAND RM-1870; Polansky HISAP'99; "Yershov" / "Ершов Кедров Классен прямое преобразование"; "nuclear voltaic cell" Tsang; "LAAS" Los Alamos Academy of Sciences; USPTO "12/384,074" "13/297,243" "11/603,812".

Leads for review

1. The inventor's own work

• US20100061503A1, "Pseudo-capacitor structure for direct nuclear energy conversion" (filed 2009, continuation of a 2006 application; abandoned). It is the fuller patent version of the 2007 paper. Para. 0121 states that "The calculated efficiency of 84% is simply the efficiency of ionization energy stopped in the 'C' layer" and is an "upper conversion efficiency estimator". It also describes a beam-test setup (FIG. 15). Bears on claims 1, 2 and 4. [web] https://patents.google.com/patent/US20100061503A1/en ; research/files/US20100061503A1.pdf
• US20130121449A1 (2011; abandoned): extends the CIci "super-capacitor" to fusion and transmutation, controlled through "nuclear entanglement and quantum non-localities". Bears on claims 1-3 (scope), and links to the LENR work. research/files/US20130121449A1.pdf
• US8067758B2 (with C.I. Muntele; granted 2011, expired for fees): nano-structured radiation shielding. This is a sibling application of the same nano-layer approach. research/files/US8067758B2.pdf
• TMS 2008 paper (Popa-Simil & Muntele): claims power density "up to 1,000 times higher" than 200-500 W/cm3. Compare the 2007 paper's 5000 kW/cm3 (claim 6). [web] laro.lanl.gov
• Cleantech 2007 "Nano hetero nuclear fuel structure": nanowire/nanobead form; insulators of "several nm" with "a breakdown voltage of few milivolts" (claims 2 and 4). [web] laro.lanl.gov
• Nanotech 2007 Vol. 4, "Nano-structures materials for Energy Direct Conversion and Fuel Breeding": sibling paper with efficiencies "higher than 90%" by "quantum effects". Recommend a deep read. research/files/Nanotech2007v4-3021.pdf
• Physics Procedia 20 (2011) 270-292 (open access): the direct-conversion reactor concept and a large historical bibliography. [web] doi 10.1016/j.phpro.2011.08.025
• ILENRS 2012 "Roadmap to Fusion Battery" and NETS 2013 "The Fusion-Transmutation Battery": the later turn to LENR with CIci as the converter. No CIci measurements found. research/files/PopaSimilL*.pdf
• Granthaalayah 2021 review and TechConnect 2015 "Super-capacitor-like Structure": later restatements (blocked or not opened).

2. Supporting information by others

• Anufrienko, Kovalev, Kulikov, Chernov (2006, Russian Chemical Journal) and Anufrienko, Chernov, Mikhailov et al. (2008, Nano- i mikrosistemnaya tekhnika No.8, "super-multilayered nanostructures"): reported, according to Klassen et al. 2013, an experimental "conversion efficiency of 25 %" in planar layered structures with U-235. This is the only measured efficiency of this order found so far. It is a second-hand report in one published source, and the primary papers have not been read. Bears directly on claim 1 (>80%) and claim 2 (mechanism).
• Klassen/Yershov et al. (ISSP RAS, 2011-2013): their own experiments on heavy conductor - insulator - light conductor "triple-layer nanostructures" gave "direct, sufficiently efficient conversion of neutron and gamma radiations to electricity". Thinning the insulator from 200 μm to 1 μm raised efficiency "by 3 orders". This is independent support for the thin-insulator design rule (claim 2). research/2026-10-04-issp-intech-klassen.md
• Yoshida, Tanabe, Chen (Nagoya University; also Tri Alpha Energy), US20050077876A1: laminated metals of different atomic number (SUS304/Al) with insulators, irradiated, measured current. Per Klassen et al. the measured efficiency was ~10^-5 %, which they attribute to mm-scale layers. This is the macroscopic precursor of CIci; its measured current rose with layer count (10-30 layers) per the patent's examples. [web] https://patents.google.com/patent/US20050077876A1/en
• Stepanov, Chernov et al. 2018: MDM and supercapacitor structures under neutron irradiation; asymmetric supercapacitors reached 1.15 V. Measured charge separation; a different device. research/files/Stepanov2018-nucet-30780.pdf

3. Closely related work

• Fission electric cell (FEC) lineage: Safonov, RAND RM-1870 (1957); Krieve, JPL TR 32-981 (1966); Ursu, Purica, Badescu-Singureanu (Bucharest-Magurele, 1978-1988, Int. J. Energy Research); Sandia "Magnetically Insulated Fission Electric Cell" (theoretical ~60%); Polansky et al. HISAP'99 review; Brown, GA-A23593 (2000, DOE NERI). This is the vacuum-gap form of the same charge-collection principle.
• Gabbar et al. 2026 (MDPI Processes): a mainstream review cites Popa-Simil (2015) for nanoscale CIci-type layers. Its characterization: "mainly conceptual ... patent-stage devices"; ideal ceiling 0.85 We/Wth (fragment share of fission energy), Sandia-based 0.60. [web] https://www.mdpi.com/2227-9717/14/17/2834
• Forward patent citations of Popa-Simil filings: US10699820B2 (3D radioisotope battery), WO2011011504A1 (Colorado School of Mines), FR3018946A1, CN106340684A, JP2022551664A and others. Not yet read.
• Linder US2517120 (1946), Young et al. WO9748105 (1997): already cited in the 2007 paper; available on Google Patents.

4. Historical record

• Patent prosecution: both Popa-Simil direct-conversion applications are listed as abandoned. The reason (examiner rejection, non-payment, or choice) is in the USPTO file wrappers, which were not yet reached. The parent US11/603,812 (2006) status is unknown.
• The record of the work: from 2007 to 2026 the concept recurs in conferences (NSTI 2007, Cleantech 2007, TMS 2008, MRS 2008, SPESIF 2011, ILENRS 2012, NETS 2013, TechConnect 2015, Granthaalayah 2021) and in patents. No report was found of a built CIci structure being measured; the beam-test design in US20100061503A1 FIG. 15 is described but no results were found. Possible explanations to check: no funding for fabrication and beam time (the 2012 roadmap asks for "appropriate funding, equipment and support"); results unpublished; negative results not reported. Records that would decide: SBIR/DOE/Army award databases for LAVM LLC; Center for Irradiation of Materials, Alabama (Muntele; a Scribd snippet links LAVM LLC with this center; "Alabama A&M" is [memory, medium]) beam-time logs and publications; the USPTO file wrappers.
• US Army 2007 items (Popa-Simil & Muntele, "Development of Nuclear Protective Materials for Incorporation into Military Protective Clothing and Equipment", Dept. US Army; "Military protective individual equipment - Active shield", US Army Natick, LAVM): possible contractor records. Search DTIC and SBIR.gov.
• Affiliations: LAVM LLC (Los Alamos; P.O. Box 784) and Los Alamos Academy of Sciences (LAAS, executive director). ScholarGPS lists Institutul de Fizică Atomică (1996-97) and IAEA (1994). Earlier IFIN-HH co-authors include Racolta, Clapon and Rosu. The cited recoil-implantation work at the U-120 cyclotron in Bucharest (Muntele et al. 1999) links him to the Romanian accelerator group. Being in the same Magurele institute complex as Ursu's FEC work (1978-1988) is a lead to check for direct continuity. It is not established.