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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