Cold fusion is a nuclear fusion reaction that takes place at or near room temperature and normal pressure instead of the millions of degrees required for plasma fusion reactions. Cold fusion is the historical term used to refer to what is now called "low energy nuclear reactions" (LENR), a subset of "condensed matter nuclear science" (CMNS). The initial claims were first reported by Martin Fleischmann and Stanley Pons at the University of Utah in March of 1989. Because it was presented as a new practical source of energy, this announcement was front-page news for some time, and generated a strong controversy, but the public debate abated quickly and the cold fusion claims were rejected by the mainstream scientific community.