NIF didn't work. It failed to achieve ignition. The simulation codes were bad.

A project called LIFE, to use NIF results to design an actual fusion reactor, was quietly terminated not too long after NIF failed.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laser_Inertial_Fusion_Energy

Even if NIF had achieved ignition, it would likely, IMO, never have led to workable reactors. The targets are simply too expensive, and there's likely no way to protect the final optics (which have to be in line of sight of the targets) from hundreds of millions of explosions.

https://wci.llnl.gov/facilities/nif I don't think NIF was ever about energy research, just a way for government to spin weapons research as having some energy benefit.