> Only in December of 2022 did scientists at the National Ignition Facility at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory announce that they had achieved the first recorded fusion reaction with a net energy gain<p>We've been achieving fusion reactions with net energy gain since the 1950s, when hydrogen bombs were developed. And, on top of that, the achievement they're talking about was more energy out than light energy put in from lasers. The NIF lasers are not anywhere close to 100% efficient at converting energy to light, and so it was not actually net energy positive.<p>NIF is not going to lead to fusion power. That's not the point. Fusion bombs are primarily an engineering problem. There's lots of plasma physics going on that is very difficult to simulate with a computer, and you need real world data to inform the simulations to make sure they're working properly. That's what NIF is for. Instead of having to blow up a nuclear bomb, and violating test ban treaties, NIF can produce that data. And with the PR shine of tying it to fusion energy.