text: what is cold fusion?   cold fusion is a nuclear fusion reaction which its proponents claim occurs well below the temperature required for thermonuclear reactions (millions of degrees celsius) in a relatively small "table top" apparatus. a variety of experimental methods are used; originally electrolytic cells. the idea was first brought into popular consciousness by the fleischmann-pons experiment in march of 1989, which was front-page news for some time, and has been controversial ever since. cold fusion is sometimes referred to as low energy nuclear reactions (lenr) or chemically-assisted nuclear reactions (canr