Princeton's conversion of the Model C stellarator to a tokamak produced results matching the Soviets. With an apparent solution to the magnetic bottle problem in-hand, plans begin for a larger machine to test scaling and methods to heat the plasma.
In 1972, John Nuckolls outlined the idea of fusion ignition, a fusion chain reaction. Hot helium made during fusion reheats the fuel and starts more reactions. Nuckolls's paper started a major development effort. LLNL built laser systems including Argus, Cyclops, Janus, the neodymium-doped glass (Nd:glass) laser Long Path, Shiva laser, and the 10 beam Nova in 1984. Nova would ultimately produce 120 kilojoules of infrared light during a nanosecond pulse.
The UK built the Central Laser Facility in 1976.
The "advanced tokamak" concept emerged, which included non-circular plasma, internal diverters and limiters, superconducting magnets, and operation in the so-called "H-mode" island of increased stability. Two other designs became prominent; the compact tokamak sited the magnets on the inside of the vacuum chamber, and the spherical tokamak with as small a cross section as possible.
In 1974 J.B. Taylor re-visited ZETA and noticed that after an experimental run ended, the plasma entered a short period of stability. This led to the reversed field pinch concept. On May 1, 1974, the KMS fusion company (founded by Kip Siegel) achieved the world's first laser induced fusion in a deuterium-tritium pellet.
The Princeton Large Torus (PLT), the follow-on to the Symmetrical Tokamak, surpassed the best Soviet machines and set temperature records that were above what was needed for a commercial reactor. Soon after it received funding with the target of breakeven.
In the mid-1970s, Project PACER, carried out at LANL explored the possibility of exploding small hydrogen bombs (fusion bombs) inside an underground cavity. As an energy source, the system was the only system that could work using the technology of the time. It required a large, continuous supply of nuclear bombs, however, with questionable economics.
In 1976, the two beam Argus laser became operational at LLNL. In 1977, the 20 beam Shiva laser there was completed, capable of delivering 10.2 kilojoules of infrared energy on target. At a price of $25 million and a size approaching that of a football field, Shiva was the first megalaser.
At a 1977 workshop at the Claremont Hotel in Berkeley Dr. C. Martin Stickley, then Director of the Energy Research and Development Agency ’s Office of Inertial Fusion, claimed that "no showstoppers" lay on the road to fusion energy.
The DOE selected a Princeton design Tokamak Fusion Test Reactor (TFTR) and the challenge of running on deuterium-tritium fuel.
The 20 beam Shiva laser at LLNL became capable of delivering 10.2 kilojoules of infrared energy on target. Costing $25 million and nearly covering a football field, Shiva was the first "megalaser" at LLNL.