For the first time in two decades, the Japanese government has issued a request for proposals for low-energy nuclear reaction (LENR) research, according to information recently obtained by New Energy Times.

The request for proposals was published by the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO), a national research and development agency.

The request for proposals, “Energy and the Environment New Leading Technology Program,” was released in July. The line item for the LENR research is on PDF Page 16, item D4. The item translates to “Metal which becomes new energy source and analysis and control of the technology of heat reactions between metals and hydrogen.”

New Energy Times spoke with Aya Iwasuji, at the Silicon Valley office of NEDO, and exchanged several e-mails with her about the program, which is also funding 10 other areas of new-energy research.

“The budget for this program this year is ¥3,410,000,000 [$27 million],” Iwasuji wrote.

In response to a request for more details about item D4, Iwasuji referred New Energy Times to NEDO’s Japan headquarters. A NEDO representative responded on Aug. 13.

“Unfortunately,” the representative wrote, “we can’t give you any information about item D4 other than the […]