National Ignition Facility
American nuclear fusion facility
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July 30 2023 | NIF achieves breakeven for a second time, yielding 3.88 MJ with an 89% surplus. |
December 5 2022 | NIF becomes the first fusion experiment to achieve scientific breakeven, producing 3.15 megajoules of energy from a 2.05 megajoule laser input. |
December 5 2022 | NIF achieved scientific breakeven for the first time, reaching 'ignition' with a 154% energy yield compared to input energy, producing 3.15 MJ from 2.05 MJ input. |
2021 | NIF produced 70% of the laser's energy, beating the 1997 JET reactor record of 67% and achieving a burning plasma. |
August 8 2021 | NIF achieves the world's first ignited plasma, with fusion heating sufficient to sustain a thermonuclear reaction for around 100 trillionths of a second. |
September 27 2013 | A NIF fusion shot produces more energy than was absorbed by the deuterium-tritium fuel, marking a significant milestone in fusion research. |
September 2012 | The National Ignition Campaign officially ended, having not reached the conditions needed for ignition. |
2011 | NIF was first used for fusion experiments, initially producing fusion energy far lower than expected - less than 1 kJ. |
2011 | Performance of NIF fusion experiments gradually improved, eventually routinely exceeding 2 MJ of fusion energy output. |
October 2010 | First 'integrated ignition experiments' testing the laser's power were declared completed. |
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