scientists at US NIF will announce tomorrow that they put 2.1 megajoules in and got 2.5 megajoules out. So far so good. However, it costs them tens of millions $ to produce a single shot. Still, future prospects look pretty good. Essentially, 3MJ of laser being fired at the capsule, but only about 15kJ is actually absorbed by the pellet before fusion occurs. If they can improve the way the laser energy is converted into shockwave energy then it will surely lower the cost of the lasers.The Chinese are ahead as usual - you'll be importing Thorium reactors in 2041.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMSR-LF1
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