LLNL and Pacific Fusion achieve 3,000-shot milestone with Sirius pulsed-power pr

[Marlin]

LLNL and Pacific Fusion achieve 3,000-shot milestone with Sirius pulsed-power prototype

https://www.ans.org/news/2026-07-20/article-8217/llnl-and-pacific-fusion-achieve-3000shot-milestone-with-sirius-pulsedpower-prototype/

[Core Content]

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Pacific Fusion reached 3,000 shots with the Sirius pulsed-power prototype, a device utilizing impedance-matched Marx generator technology. This milestone provides reliability data for future fusion energy systems and high-energy-density experiments. The testing supports the transition of this technology from laboratory development toward larger-scale system demonstrations under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement.

Researchers from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory and Pacific Fusion have surpassed 3,000 "shots" with Sirius, a four-stage prototype impedance-matched Marx generator (IMG) of the type that can provide pulsed power to an inertial confinement fusion machine. The team characterized this achievement as a "key milestone in the development of...

Sirius was designed and built at LLNL and uses the same core IMG technology that San Francisco area–based Pacific Fusion is scaling for its pulser-driven inertial fusion system. The lab and the company are working under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA).

Pulsed-power basics: In a pulsed-power accelerator, low-power electrical energy from a wall plug is stored briefly in a bank of capacitors before being released as a compressed, enormous burst (or shot) of power. The duration of the pulse is increasingly shortened until it is just billionths of a second long. With each shortening of the pulse, the released power increases.

Read the full article at ans.org:
https://www.ans.org/news/2026-07-20/article-8217/llnl-and-pacific-fusion-achieve-3000shot-milestone-with-sirius-pulsedpower-prototype/