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Nuclear fusion
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=== Stellar reaction chains === At the temperatures and densities in stellar cores, the rates of fusion reactions are notoriously slow. For example, at solar core temperature (''T'' β 15 MK) and density (160 g/cm<sup>3</sup>), the energy release rate is only 276 ΞΌW/cm<sup>3</sup>βabout a quarter of the volumetric rate at which a resting human body generates heat.<ref>[http://fusedweb.pppl.gov/CPEP/Chart_Pages/5.Plasmas/SunLayers.html FusEdWeb | Fusion Education]. Fusedweb.pppl.gov (9 November 1998). Retrieved 17 August 2011. {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071024012758/http://fusedweb.pppl.gov/CPEP/Chart_pages/5.Plasmas/SunLayers.html |date=24 October 2007 }}</ref> Thus, reproduction of stellar core conditions in a lab for nuclear fusion power production is completely impractical. Because nuclear reaction rates depend on density as well as temperature, and most fusion schemes operate at relatively low densities, those methods are strongly dependent on higher temperatures. The fusion rate as a function of temperature (exp(β''E''/''kT'')), leads to the need to achieve temperatures in terrestrial reactors 10β100 times higher than in stellar interiors: ''T'' β {{val|0.1|β|1.0|e=9|u=K}}.
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