In ‘The Irrelevance of the National Ignition Facility for Fusion Power’, Bodner argues that NIF’s indirect‑drive ignition results, while scientifically impressive, are essentially useless for developing practical fusion power. Indirect‑drive cannot reach the high energy gains required for a power plant, offers no transferable physics insight to direct‑drive systems, and has delayed real fusion‑energy progress by decades. He contends that only symmetric direct‑drive using far‑UV gas lasers (especially ArF) is a viable path to high‑gain laser fusion, and that NIF’s glass‑laser technology and target design provide no relevant foundation for that effort.
EMAIL: sebodner@mailaps.org
EMAIL: bodners@icloud.com