  The possibility of nuclear reactions within a low voltage DC deuterium
discharge with palladium electrodes is addressed. The solid-state nuclear track
detector known as CR-39 was chosen to investigate the emission of energetic
charged particles from the electrodes. A partially automated imaging platform
and feature classification process was developed to scan the CR-39 surface and
detect tracks. Typical discharge parameters were 10 Torr deuterium, 5-7 mm
electrode gap distance, 20-40 mA/cm$^2$ current density, and -500 $\pm$ 100 V
cathode bias. After discharge treatments to varied ion-cathode fluences, tracks
formed in CR-39 which consistently corresponded to 138 $\pm$ 21 keV alpha
particles emitted from the palladium electrodes. The track densities for
deuterium discharges were often $\sim$100 times above controls with hydrogen
and helium. Currently, there are no known mechanisms to accelerate ions to
these energies within the apparatus. The production of energetic alpha
particles with no source of helium or a means to accelerate the ions to such
high energies indicate a nuclear origin. From particle trajectory estimates
based on track geometries, it was concluded the reactions originated at the Pd
electrodes and not from external sources such as atmospheric radon or cosmic
rays.
