11:00 Update

Looking over the comments on Journal of Nuclear Physics  , I found a mention of hydrinos, or mini atoms, or neutroids- these appear to be new terms not discussed earlier.  So, I looked them up.  Nothing on neutroids, but I did find this on hydrinos.  I've heard of Black Light Power before.  I didn't take them seriously, though.

According to Mills, a specific chemical process he calls "The BlackLight Process" allows a bound electron to fall to energy states below what quantum theory predicts to be possible. In the hydrogen atom, these states are postulated to have an effective radius of 1/p of the ground state radius, with p being limited by the speed of light to a positive integer less than or equal to 137.[4]:31, 207 He terms these below-ground hydrogen atoms 'hydrinos'.

 Well, that doesn't seem to look good.

Speculation alert: What about β− decay?  According to the Wikipedia, this occurs in neutron rich nucleii.  This would be the case if you add 5 neutrons to a Ni58 giving an unstable scenario with Nickel not having a stable isotope at atomic weight of 63.  Would adding 1 more neutron to a stable Ni62 trigger beta decay? In this case, the neutron would turn into a proton, releasing an electron and a neutrino.  The extra proton transmutes the Ni62 (plus a rogue neutron) into Cu63.  This seems plausible because the neutron on its own is unstable.  This may not explain the energy release, though.

I remember muons.  Maybe they will be helpful in this discussion.  But now, I have to update.

Update:

Please note that I will take a break until 1pm, local time.  From this post, that means 2 hours from now.  I need to go get some stuff for lunch and then have lunch.  Later!