Europe plans laser-fusion facility

Europe plans laser-fusion facility (September 2005) - News - PhysicsWeb

The problem with Inertial confinement is the Richtmyer-Meshkov effect and the problems with instabilities inheirent in a very energetic fluid systems, like the plasmas produced by lazer reactors. The reactor that they are proposing might be able to get close to breakeven, but no reactor (of any type) has ever been able to get past that let alone harness the energy produced to power itself yet.

There is also a good slashdot comment on a different IC system being built in America that could also provide another step towards a workable fusion reactor, sometime in the next few decades.