Is there a future for inertial confinement fusion?

Science : If the National Ignition Facility (NIF) reaches its goal of ignition--a self-sustaining fusion burn that produces more energy than was put in to create it--researchers will celebrate a triumph of plasma science. But they will still be far from showing that inertial confinement fusion (ICF) is a viable energy source for the future.

One key stumbling block for an ICF energy reactor is laser technology. NIF managers hope to perform about two shots a day because of the time needed to let optical elements cool down, check for damage, replace any damaged parts, and install a new fuel capsule. At that rate, with each shot producing fusion burns of 20 megajoules--its initial target--NIF will barely generate enough power to keep a single light bulb glowing. According to Steven Cowley, director of the Culham Science Centre, Britain’s fusion research lab near Oxford, “laser fusion has all the problems of magnetic fusion, but ICF also has to find a laser that can fire many times per second and is 20% to 30% efficient, plus how to make fuel pellets at low cost.”