While the ignition experiment, which the Lab has already achieved in 2022, was a major breakthrough, producing fusion energy on a commercial scale presents significant challenges.
One of the biggest hurdles is the production of fuel capsules required for the process. These capsules hold the deuterium and tritium fuel used in fusion reactions.
These capsules, which must be nearly perfectly spherical, currently take months to manufacture. For reference, a viable power plant would require nearly a million of these capsules per day. Moreover, these capsules must be manufactured with extreme accuracy.