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Fusion Concepts Controlled Fusion Methods Modern Research Efforts
Conceptual Overview Inertial Confinement Reactors Internal Confinement Research
Conditions for Fusion Magnetic Confinement Reactors Tokamak and Stellerator Research


National Ignition Facility

The world's largest laser facility is housed at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory The facility uses 192 laser beams to deliver approximately 1.8 million Joules within one billionth of a second pulses, which is more than 60 times the energy capable of its predecessors. Most of that 1.8 million joules is lost in the effort to achieve the appropriate conditions for igniting the fusion reaction, almost 1 percent of the laser's energy actually is put into the fuel capsule.
The NIF laser received international attention in late 2012 whenever researchers had started a fusion reaction which "broke even", meaning that the fusion reaction yielded more output energy than input. Since this result, researchers at the facility have experimented with new ways of increasing output.
The NIF laser is used primarily for research purposes. The data from NIF fusions is used for other fusion research and also by our government to refine nuclear weapons without the need for field testing.