And...hot off the press:
https://phys.org/news/2021-08-major-nuclear-fusion-milestone-ignition.html
Wow - That 70% mark referred to earlier has now gone to 100%! Given what was uncovered earlier, that's still very disappointing. yet as this para proclaims:
"While the latest experiment still required more energy in than it got out, it is the first to reach the crucial stage of 'ignition', which allowed considerably more energy to be produced than ever before, and paves the way for 'break even', where the energy in is matched by the energy out."
Ah yes - that tricky but crucial ~ 100x distinction between 'ignition' and 'break even'. Well actually the latter mark is still not even close to being 'a eureka event'. Why? I left out previously another problematic issue in p6 #117. The evidently needed critically prepared cryogenically cooled state for each of those multi-layered peppercorn sized deuterium/tritium spherical target capsules:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility#NIF_and_ICF
2nd para:
"NIF is designed primarily to use the indirect drive method of operation, in which the laser heats a small metal cylinder instead of the capsule inside it. The heat causes the cylinder, known as a hohlraum (German for "hollow room", or cavity), to re-emit the energy as intense X-rays, which are more evenly distributed and symmetrical than the original laser beams. Experimental systems, including the OMEGA and Nova lasers, validated this approach through the late 1980s.[23] In the case of the NIF, the large delivered power allows for the use of a much larger target; the baseline pellet design is about 2 mm in diameter,
chilled to about 18 kelvins (−255 °C) and lined with a layer of frozen DT fuel. The hollow interior also contains a small amount of DT gas."
Further, as mentioned 3rd para here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Ignition_Facility#National_Ignition_Campaign
minute quantities of dust (and elsewhere that article - condensed water vapor) spoils things.
Just consider the logistical nightmare those factors alone implies. We have already covered that a repetition firing rate of ~ 10/s is required for a viable system. Each tiny deuterium + tritium capsule is a very carefully multi-layered arrangement exquisitely sensitive to any impurities present. That alone suggests a time consuming prep process for each and every tiny pellet placed on the assembly line. Fed into and aligned to the very precise center of the laser focus ignition site. Machine gun style. Now recall from quoted para above that each and every pellet has to be cryogenically cooled to ~ 18 Kelvin. Might as well say ~ 4 Kelvin as only liquid Helium can practically get to even the former figure, and as soon as outside the cryogenic cooling core, each and every pellet will be subject to relatively rapid heating.
That last issue alone would seem to be quite a problem, especially given the ignition site was VERY recently and necessarily subject to 100 million Kelvin + temperature as dictated by the fusion 'break even' requirement. And just how the hell can these utterly conflicting requirements be simultaneously met?! Well one could try and email the gurus in charge of it all at NIF. But I wouldn't be one holding my breath expecting a satisfactory response if any. A case of PR/spin reigning supreme?