Maybe this is where quantum theory meets physical world. The atoms are "forced" together, serially, like in a vise, under such pressure that they combine into a helium atom and release energy as heat, only under a controllable process that can be harvested. Maybe the palladium and zirconium dioxide act as the atomic "jaws" of the vise to produce this "fusion" slowly, instead of instantaneously in one "Big Bang"!............
Probably has something to do with the quantum properties of the crystalline forms of palladium
When you start to get up into the heavier metals and actinide series, there’s alot of weird chit going on!
Possibly. That’s the intuition most physicists seem to have, assuming that cold fusion exists, but we really don’t know.