A plasma model of the process of cold nuclear fusion in metals

A plasma model of the process of cold nuclear fusion of deuterium ions in metals is presented taking into account the screening effect of the free electron gas and the deuterium ion pair correlation at short distances. The results of relevant calculations show a substantial increase of the tunnelling probability of deuterium ions through the repulsive Coulomb barrier and, in turn, of the corresponding nuclear reaction rate with respect to the "classical" theoretical predictions at the same temperature. The temperature and density scaling laws of the nuclear fusion rate in the cold fusion regime are also analytically derived.