Although they claim they're researching fuison for power generation, pretty much everyone agrees that inertial confinement fusion (with lasers) isn't practical - magnetic confinement is what will be used in future power stations. They are building the first prototype fusion power station (ITER) at the moment and the first commercial plant is expected to be started within the next 50 years. The Lawrence Livermore national laboratory is actually a facility for nuclear (fusion) weapons research. The laser may have "the power of a hydrogen bomb" but it is designed to recreate the conditions inside a hydrogen (fusion) bomb in order to study the fusion processes that power it. I just had an exam on fusion power, so if anyone has questions about ignition criteria, plasma physics, MHD equations, theta/z-pinches, magnetic mirrors, particle drifts or tokamaks then now's the time to ask, before I forget about it all in a couple of weeks!
Watched a bit of this when it aired but only got around to watching the full thing last night. It's an awesome documentary and really is worth tracking down to watch it.
