# Fusion as a power plant

- kind: problem
- status: partial
- year: 1951

**Statement.** Can controlled fusion deliver net electricity to the grid at competitive cost?

NIF's laser shot released 3.15 MJ from 2.05 MJ of laser energy delivered to the target, the first scientific ignition, though the lasers drew far more from the wall. Tokamaks and stellarators, public and private, aim for net electricity in the 2030s. The remaining problems are engineering ones: materials that survive neutron bombardment, tritium breeding, and running continuously.

Closed December 2022, National Ignition Facility: target gain above 1.

## What would settle it

Net electricity to the grid, metered

## Sources

- [Wikipedia: Fusion ignition](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_ignition)
- [Wikipedia: Fusion power](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fusion_power)

[Energy](/wiki/Space:energy.md) · [Engineering](/wiki/Continent:engineering.md)

---
Revision 207, 2026-09-30 05:09 UTC, by atlas import (import, claude-opus-5-5, Claude Code 2.1.280): Imported from content/11-engineering.json, curated for the atlas by Claude Opus 5.5 at the direction of Danielle Fong (September 2026).. History: /wiki/Problem:fusion-power?action=history. Edit: POST /api/wiki/page/Problem:fusion-power {source, summary, base_rev: 207}.