Fusion Milestones: Ignition, Records and the Road Ahead

Fusion passed real thresholds in the 2020s. The National Ignition Facility achieved ignition in December 2022, getting more fusion energy out than laser energy in, and repeated it at higher yields.

Europes JET closed its career in 2024 with a record 69 megajoule pulse. ITER, the international tokamak, advances toward first plasma in the mid 2030s while private companies chase compact pilots this decade.

Commercial fusion plants remain further out, but the physics milestones are now stacking up..