Editing Inertial confinement fusion (section)

==== Economic viability ====
Another factor working against IFE is the cost of the fuel. Even as Nuckolls was developing his earliest calculations, co-workers pointed out that if an IFE machine produces 50&nbsp;MJ of fusion energy, a shot could produce perhaps 10&nbsp;MJ (2.8 kWh) of energy. Wholesale rates for electrical power on the grid were about 0.3 cents/kWh at the time, which meant the monetary value of the shot was perhaps one cent. In the intervening 50 years the real price of power has remained about even, and the rate in 2012 in [[Ontario, Canada]] was about 2.8 cents/kWh.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/marketdata/markettoday.asp |title=IESO Power Data |publisher=Ieso.ca |access-date=2014-08-23 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141002115248/http://www.ieso.ca/imoweb/marketdata/marketToday.asp |archive-date=2014-10-02 }}</ref> Thus, in order for an IFE plant to be economically viable, fuel shots would have to cost considerably less than ten cents in 2012 dollars.

Direct-drive systems avoid the use of a hohlraum and thereby may be less expensive in fuel terms. However, these systems still require an ablator, and the accuracy and geometrical considerations are critical. The direct-drive approach still may not be less expensive to operate.