In December 2022, the National Ignition Facility (NIF) at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California, USA, achieved a historic breakthrough: researchers proved the feasibility of inertial confinement fusion energy (IFE) by creating a self-sustaining burning plasma.
IFE thus demonstrated a useful addition to carbon-free, safe and clean energy sources of the future. This outstanding achievement has prompted the US Department of Energy to provide 16 million dollars to establish the STARFIRE Hub (IFE Science & Technology Accelerated Research for Fusion Innovation & Reactor Engineering). The Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT is one of the cooperation partners.
The IFE Hub will accelerate the development of high gain target designs, as well as the development of manufacturing processes and reactor insertion methods. In May 2023, the expert commission of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), headed by Prof. Häfner, presented a memorandum outlining the technical realization of a laser-based inertial confinement fusion power plant. The project aims to create the scientific and technological basis for various laser-based approaches to inertial confinement fusion.
