Effort to Create a Miniature Star Dedicated

The National Ignition Facility (NIF) was dedicated Friday at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. It aims to create a miniature star by generating fusion, the same thermonuclear reaction that powers the sun.

Here are the numbers:

• Cost: $3.5 billion
• Laser beams: 192
• Size: About that of a football stadium
• Contractors: 3,000
• Other workers: 7,000
• Years to build: 12
  
• Points of control: 60,000 (30 times as many as a space shuttle)
• How long it will run: 30 years

While the project is ambitious, nobody can say if it will be successful. The aim: Lay the groundwork for fusion as an energy source. "If fusion energy works," said project director Ed Moses, "you'll have, for all intents and purposes, a limitless supply of carbon-free energy that's not geopolitically sensitive. What more would you want? It's a game changer."