"This is a mind-blowing technology," said the governor, adding "the challenge is to harness this." Schwarzenegger said "We want to reduce our reliance on carbon fuels and dirty coal." "Just because fusion won't be accomplished tomorrow it doesn't mean we shouldn't do it. It just means that we have to keep on working on it. We need clean energy. This fusion energy creates no greenhouse gases whatsoever. So I cannot wait for this to become a reality," he said.

Lab associate director and NIF project manager Ed Moses told the governor that each of NIF's 192 laser beams "is the world's most powerful, most energetic laser." Lab director George Miller briefed the governor on lab operations and told the governor that NIF "represents the culmination of more than 50 years worth of effort by the scientists of the world to achieve fusion in the laboratory -- that is, building a miniature sun in the laboratory."