California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said Monday advanced laser technology "has the potential to revolutionize our energy future." His remarks were made as he toured the stadium-sized National Ignition Facility (NIF) at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, Calif. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is briefed while standing in front of the National Ignition Facility's 10-m diameter target chamber. Pictured are (l-r) LLNL director George Miller; Bruce Goodwin, principal associate director for Weapons and Complex Integration directorate; Susan Kennedy, governor's chief of staff; the governor; Edward Moses, principal associate director of the National Ignition Facility; and George Shultz, former US Secretary of State. (Photo: LLNL) NIF, the world’s largest laser, is scheduled for completion in March 2009. The stadium-sized facility contains 192 laser beams designed to generate a peak power of 500 trillion watts and will be used for experimental study of thermonuclear burn and high-energy-density phenomena that occur in modern nuclear weapons. While at NIF, the governor was briefed on LIFE (Laser Inertial Confinement Fusion-Fission Energy), an energy production concept that will use a laser system similar to NIF that could be used to generate abundant carbon-free electricity far into the foreseeable future. “If successful, this new endeavor could generate thousands of megawatts of carbon-free nuclear power but without the drawbacks of conventional nuclear plants,” Schwarzenegger said. “An aggressive development of this technology could lead to a LIFE pilot power generation plant in the 2020 timeframe followed by commercial deployment in the following 10 years,” said Ed Moses, NIF principal associate director and a leader in the development of LIFE.