Latest on laser fusion ignition:

Fluor to Bolster Commercialization of Laser Fusion Power

“Under the MOU, Fluor will leverage its global experience in developing and constructing complex, large-scale facilities to provide preliminary design and engineering to support the development of Longview’s fusion-powered plant,” Fluor said.

Longview’s laser fusion power plants are based directly on the experimental demonstration of fusion ignition at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory’s (LLNL’s) NIF. The company is notably headed by Dr. Edward Moses, former NIF & NIF Photon Science principal associate director, who managed the design and construction of the NIF from 2007 to 2013. Under his watch, NIF began full operations in March 2009 and quickly set world records for neutron yield from laser-driven fusion fuel capsules and laser energy delivered to inertial confinement fusion (ICF) targets.

NIF, the size of a sports stadium, today uses its 192 powerful laser beams to create pressures and temperatures intense enough to fuse the nuclei of hydrogen atoms—and release many times more energy than the laser energy required to initiate a reaction. The complex reaction is known as “fusion ignition.”