http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isotopes_of_nickel ~ is this wrong? (I ask only because it’s a Wiki piece). 5 stable isotopes. One of them can decay to iron ~ was there a problem in finding Fe in the debris?But there was no depletion of that one isotope of Nickel. All of the isotopes would have to have been "burned" without regard to their atomic weight. You're trying to argue that all 5 stable Nickel isotopes all converted in to only stable isotopes of something else, and in exactly the right ratio to maintain the natural ratios of those new elements.
Again: If Rossi was doing any kind of transmutation, we would see non-natural ratios of the Nickel "fuel" and the Copper/Iron/whatever "ash". They didn't find anything like that.
So, why would we need non-natural distributions? BTW, check out http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2805993/posts ~ that answers one of the questions about why folks in the recycling industry need to protect themselves with radiation detectors. The guys letting this stuff boil off have some other hot isotopes to dispose of ~ and will probably be sticking recyclers in Southern Europe with the goods as fast as they can.