Pacific Fusion Scales Up Pulsed Power Prototype, Plans Demonstration Plant This Summer

Pacific Fusion unveiled its latest pulser module prototype on Tuesday, a shipping container-sized unit that released 440 gigawatts of peak power in 80 nanoseconds. The results were sufficient to unlock another tranche of the company’s Series A round, which exceeds $1 billion, though the size of the tranche was not disclosed. The prototype contains nine stages and 90 bricks.

Each brick holds two capacitors and one switch. Pacific Fusion said the unit meets all requirements for scaling to the full-size modules needed for its demonstration fusion power plant. Construction on the demonstration plant is expected to begin this summer.

The facility will use 156 full-size pulser modules. Each full-size module will contain 32 circular stages, and each stage will be ringed with 10 bricks. The reactor will deliver an electrical pulse to an eraser-sized fuel pellet inside the fusion chamber.

The pulse is intended to create a magnetic field that compresses the pellet until atoms fuse and release energy. Pacific Fusion is pursuing inertial confinement fusion. Inertial confinement is the only approach that has produced a controlled fusion reaction releasing more energy than required to initiate it.

Only one experiment at the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory has produced and replicated those scientific breakeven results. Keith LeChien, Pacific Fusion’s chief technology officer, said the funding structure allows the company to focus on technical milestones rather than repeated fundraising.

“It means that we can lean into the future without spending 20% to 50% time constantly looking for the next piece of capital,” he told TechCrunch.

The company’s next step is to scale the sub-scale prototype to a full-size pulser module. Pacific Fusion plans to move directly from scientific breakeven to facility breakeven at the demonstration plant, meaning the facility would generate more electricity than it consumes. LeChien said the demonstration plant represents the next major milestone.

“Any fusion approach, regardless of your specific technology, has to traverse through that,” he said.