NIF is the US laser inertial-confinement facility at Lawrence Livermore, the first to achieve fusion ignition (target gain >1) in December 2022. Its record shot on 7 April 2025 produced 8.6 MJ from 2.08 MJ of laser energy (target gain 4.13); it is a stockpile-stewardship science facility, not a power plant prototype.
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Current state
| Status | Operating |
| Country | United States |
| Location | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, California |
| Developer | Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (NNSA) |
| Developer type | Public |
| Concept | Laser inertial |
| Fuel | D-T |
| Purpose | Research |
| Public funding | US NNSA (Department of Energy) |
Notes
Gains are target gain (Q_sci for the capsule); wall-plug efficiency is far below 1. first plasma not recorded: the concept does not strictly apply to laser ICF.
Timeline
- 2022-12-05 — NIF achieved fusion ignition, producing more fusion energy than the laser energy delivered to the target. (source)
- 2024-02 — NIF set a then-record yield of 5.2 MJ. (source)
- 2025-04-07 — NIF produced a record 8.6 MJ from 2.08 MJ of laser energy, a target gain of 4.13. (source)
The timeline is append-only: corrections are added as new entries. Stated targets appear in the current-state table, never as milestones.
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Sources
- National Ignition Facility - 2025 (LLNL annual report) — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (primary), checked 2026-10-11
- Three peer-reviewed papers highlight scientific results of NIF record yield shot — Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (primary), checked 2026-10-11