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The efficiency in the lasers isn't off by 50%. They are off by SEVERAL orders of magnitude.

Plus the fuel pellets are too expensive anyway.




Yes, I know.

NIF's lasers are, I'm told, less than 1% efficient; modern lasers can be 50%-80% if that's what is being optimised for.

There's no reason to bother upgrading those lasers until all the other issues are solved, and even then, as it's an experimental facility not a power station, they may well never bother even if it is the only thing holding them back from a gain of more than 1 as measured wallplug-to-wallplug.




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