The future of fusion research at the $3.5bn National Ignition Facility (NIF) is hanging in the balance after scientists failed to meet a target of achieving ignition-a self-sustaining fusion reaction that produces more energy than it consumes. NIF-a huge laser-fusion lab at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in i California-was meant to spend its first two full years of operation on a co-ordinated series of experiments aimed at achieving ignition. But on 30 September those experiments, known as the National Ignition Campaign (NIC), officially ended with ignition still some way off.
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机译：在35亿美元的国家点火装置（NIF）上，聚变研究的未来处于悬而未决的状态，因为科学家们未能实现实现点火的目标-一种自我维持的聚变反应，其产生的能量多于消耗的能量。 NIF是位于美国加利福尼亚州劳伦斯利弗莫尔国家实验室（Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory）的一个巨大的激光融合实验室，旨在将其头两年的运行时间用于一系列旨在实现点火的协调实验。但是在9月30日，那些被称为“国家点火运动”（NIC）的实验正式结束，点火距离还有一段距离。
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