Contra Costa Times: After 12 years and billions of dollars spent, the U.S. Department of Energy on Tuesday officially certified the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. Key missions of the facility, the world’s largest laser operation, are to assess the reliability of the nation’s nuclear stockpile through simulations and to provide a training ground for a new generation of physicists. But in 2010, all eyes will be on the facility to deliver on its most visible promise – …