Reply #4: its real and they have had results in "Test Fires" already

[FreakinDJ]

Big difference is they are now talking about a commercially viable reactor

In addition to Clean Energy - the New Life Fusion Reactor would take care of all our Nuclear Waste problems

Fusion-fission engines have not advance beyond the discussion stage because powerful high-average-power lasers and other required technologies did not exist. Similarly, accelerator-based schemes never advanced past the conceptual study phase, in part because a complete nuclear fuel cycle – including uranium enrichment and nuclear waste reprocessing – was still required to generate economical electricity.

Ignition experiments designed to accomplish National Ignition Facility (NIF's) goal will begin in 2010, and successful demonstration of ignition and net energy gain on NIF will be a transforming event that is likely to focus the world's attention on the possibility of ICF as a potential long-term energy option.

By integrating fuel generation, energy production and waste minimization into a single device, the LIFE engine requires neither enrichment nor reprocessing, and there is no need to remove fuel or fissile material generated in the reactor. LIFE engines can use fuels without prior enrichment and then burn them so completely that virtually no weapons-attractive material remains at the end of a plant's life.

In addition to burning natural uranium, a LIFE engine can use for its fuel the two waste streams generated by LWRs – spent nuclear fuel (SNF) and depleted uranium (DU) left over from the process used to enrich uranium.

The LIFE engine extracts more than 99 percent of the energy content of its fuel, compared to less than 1 percent of the energy in the ore required to make fuel for a typical LWR. Higher fuel utilization means that far less fuel is required to generate the same amount of energy. A 1,500-megawatt LIFE power plant could operate for 50 years on only a small roomful of fuel.
http://nextbigfuture.com/2008/12/proposed-laser-ignition-fusionfission.html