Senior Manufacturing Engineer

Pacific Fusion breaks ground on Albuquerque machine targeting net facility gain by 2030. Key points * Pacific Fusion broke ground in Albuquerque on August 25, 2026, for a campus that will house its Demonstration System and manufacturing operations. [[1]] * The planned machine will use 156 impedance-matched Marx-generator modules to deliver more than 60 mega-amperes to a magnetized inertial-fusion target. [[2]] [[3]] * Net facility gain means fusion energy exceeds the energy stored in the driver; it does not mean the facility will produce net electricity for the grid. [[4]] * Independent coverage says the proposed system would still need substantially higher gain and a much faster shot rate before it could function as a power plant. [[5]] Pacific Fusion broke ground Tuesday, August 25, 2026, on a research and manufacturing campus in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where it plans to build a pulsed-power fusion machine designed to produce more fusion energy than the energy stored in the system. The company targets that milestone, known as net facility gain, by 2030. [[1]] The project is a demonstration facility, not a commercial power station. Pacific Fusion says the system is intended to generate roughly 100 megajoules of fusion energy per shot and operate at a rate of several shots per day. A commercial plant would need to run at about one shot per second and produce roughly five times more energy per shot, according to company executives quoted by TechCrunch. [[2]] A 156-module pulsed-power machine. Pacific Fusion's design is based on magnetized liner inertial fusion, a form of inertial confinement fusion that uses an intense electrical pulse to create a magnetic field and compress a small deuterium-tritium fuel target. The target is about the size of a pencil eraser, according to the company's description of the system. [[2]] The electrical driver will contain 156 modules. Each module is described as having 32 circular stages, with each stage containing 10 bricks made from two capacitors and a switch. The modules are intended to fire in synchronized pulses, producing more than 60 mega-amperes of current and storing approximately 80 megajoules of electrical energy. [[2]] [[3]] Pacific Fusion's core driver technology is an impedance-matched Marx generator, or IMG. The company says the architecture improves pulsed-power efficiency and supports a modular design. It has reported a one-third-scale test that delivered 440 gigawatts of peak electrical power in an 80-nanosecond pulse. That result measured the pulser, not fusion energy from a completed demonstration target. [[2]] [[6]] The facility's scientific role. The Albuquerque campus is planned to include the Demonstration System, target fabrication, engineering operations and scientific diagnostics. A Department of Energy document describing the proposed facility lists cryogenic targets, tritium fuel handling, a high-energy laser for x-ray backlighting and preheating, and instruments for high-energy-density and fusion research. [[7]] Pacific Fusion's user-program materials describe 17 configurable target-area diagnostics. Those instruments are intended to measure the implosion, energy yield and other conditions needed to evaluate scientific gain and net facility gain. [[8]] The company's technical case relies partly on simulations benchmarked against experiments at Sandia National Laboratories' Z facility. Its published technical work projects that increasing the current from the roughly 20-megaampere range demonstrated in relevant experiments toward 50 to 60 mega-amperes could reach ignition-scale conditions. Those projections remain simulations and extrapolations; the complete 60-megaampere demonstration machine has not yet operated. [[3]] [[9]] Net facility gain is not net electric power. Fusion terminology is central to the project. Scientific gain compares the energy released by the fusion reaction with the energy delivered directly to the fuel. Net facility gain compares fusion output with the energy initially stored in the machine. Pacific Fusion says its 2030 target uses the second definition. [[4]] Neither measure demonstrates that a power plant can send electricity to the grid. Pacific Fusion estimates that converting fusion energy into electricity, while supplying the plant's other equipment, would require a facility gain of roughly three to four. The company also lists plasma-facing materials, tritium supply, radiation shielding, target manufacturing and maintenance as requirements for affordable power. [[4]] Nature reported that the demonstration system is expected to use about 80 megajoules of stored electrical energy for each pulse. Even if the planned 100-megajoule fusion yield is achieved, the publication reported, the initial gain would be about one-fifth of the level needed for a power plant. [[5]] Federal partnership, but no announced construction funding. The groundbreaking coincided with a memorandum of understanding between Pacific Fusion and the National Nuclear Security Administration. The agreement establishes a framework for collaboration on high-yield fusion, high-energy-density science and related technical work, including national-security research. [[1]] The NNSA said specific projects and funding commitments would require separate agreements. The memorandum therefore establishes a cooperation framework but does not, on its face, disclose a federal commitment to finance construction or operations. [[1]] Pacific Fusion was founded in 2023 and has raised more than $900 million in milestone-based funding, according to testimony from company president Will Regan before the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. The company has said it expects to complete and validate a production-scale pulser module before building out the remaining modules for the demonstration system. [[10]] [[11]] The project's near-term technical tests are the production-scale module, full-system synchronization, target performance and diagnostic measurements. Even a successful net-facility-gain result would be a demonstration of a high-yield fusion experiment, not proof that Pacific Fusion has solved the repetition rate, energy conversion, materials and maintenance problems of a commercial plant. [[4]] [[5]] At the intersection of AI, tech, and markets. The stories that matter, in one email. Free - unsubscribe anytime.

Governor announces groundbreaking on Pacific Fusion's research, manufacturing campus in ABQ. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Office of the Governor August 25, 2026 Pacific Fusion breaks ground on research & manufacturing campus in Albuquerque $1 billion facility will anchor New Mexico's growing advanced-energy industry ALBUQUERQUE - New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham today announced the start of construction on Pacific Fusion's $1 billion research and manufacturing campus at Mesa del Sol, marking a major milestone in New Mexico's drive to become a national hub for advanced, carbon-free energy. Pacific Fusion's approximately 225,000-square-foot campus will house the company's first-of-its-kind fusion research facility, working toward a system that generates more energy than it consumes by 2030. The project is expected to create more than 200 permanent jobs, along with hundreds of construction and regional supply-chain jobs. This facility will not operate as a power plant. Today's groundbreaking builds on Gov. Lujan Grisham's broader advanced-energy and economic-development strategy. "Less than a year ago, we announced that Pacific Fusion had selected New Mexico for this extraordinary investment, and today, construction begins," Lujan Grisham said. "Pacific Fusion's decision to build here demonstrates that New Mexico leads the nation in creating the industries of the future. This facility will create high-quality jobs, strengthen our advanced-manufacturing economy and help establish New Mexico as the place where the next-generation energy is developed and ultimately deployed." Fusion has the potential to provide abundant, carbon-free energy that isn't weather dependent, without the risk of meltdown or long-lived radioactive waste. Pacific Fusion's approach builds directly on decades of research at Sandia National Laboratories' Z Machine, one of the world's leading fusion research facilities. "New Mexico is where Pacific Fusion will build the system designed to prove that practical fusion power is possible," said Keith LeChien, co-founder and CTO of Pacific Fusion. "The state brings together scientific and engineering talent, a deep legacy in pulsed-power research and leaders who understand the urgency of building. This campus will be the foundation for our fusion system and, we hope, for a much larger fusion energy ecosystem here in New Mexico." New Mexico's proximity to Sandia and Los Alamos national laboratories, specialized scientific workforce, advanced-manufacturing base and ability to move major projects forward quickly were central to Pacific Fusion's decision to locate its first major research and manufacturing campus in the state. "Pacific Fusion's $1 billion investment in New Mexico is a testament to the strength of our state's workforce and national labs. This high-yield, high-gain fusion facility will advance our understanding of what it will take to bring fusion power to the grid, while supporting Albuquerque's economy, creating 200 permanent jobs, and cementing New Mexico's leadership in energy innovation," said Senator Martin Heinrich, Ranking Member of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and founder of the Senate Fusion Caucus. "Fusion has the potential to transform how we power our economy, in addition to its role in strengthening our national security. I'm excited to see Pacific Fusion and New Mexico leading the way in turning that potential into reality." "This is what investment in American innovation should produce: cutting-edge industries, high-quality jobs in New Mexico, and broader impact through clean energy for the world," said U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján. "To make that possible, we need continued federal engagement and funding to get fusion commercially deployed on the grid." Pacific Fusion has also established a facility in Los Lunas, where the company has already hired more than 70 people and manufactures components for its fusion system. Together, the Albuquerque campus and Los Lunas operation are intended to anchor a growing network of suppliers, educational institutions and workforce-development programs supporting the fusion industry. "Pacific Fusion is investing in our city and creating jobs for the next generation of energy technology," Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said. "We are the right home for this kind of innovation, where the components are manufactured and the industry grows." The Energy Transition Act, signed into law by Gov. Lujan Grisham in 2019, established a path to a zero-carbon electricity sector and sent a clear signal that New Mexico intends to lead in the development and deployment of advanced-energy technologies. New Mexico has also expanded its Advanced Energy Equipment Tax Credit to include fusion machines and their essential components, helping ensure that companies developing and manufacturing fusion technology can build and grow in the state. About Pacific Fusion. Pacific Fusion was founded in 2023 to deliver commercial fusion energy to cities, businesses and homes. The company is developing a pulser-driven inertial fusion system designed to achieve net facility gain, followed by commercial fusion power. Pacific Fusion is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, with growing research and manufacturing operations in New Mexico.

Pacific Fusion-Livermore partnered prototype surpasses 3,000 shots. By ExchangeMonitor Pacific Fusion and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in California have demonstrated the long-term operation of a next-generation pulsed-power technology, with a prototype system surpassing 3,000 electrical pulses, or "shots," under a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA). The achievement advances the laboratory's prototype, named Sirius, beyond proof-of-concept and toward Technology Readiness Level 5 by providing data on lifetime and reliability needed to evaluate larger pulsed-power systems, according to local publication The Independent. Sirius is a four-stage impedance-matched Marx generator, or IMG, developed at LLNL as a potential successor to conventional pulsed-power architectures, according to the Independent. Unlike traditional Marx generators, the system generates a fast electrical pulse in a single stage, reducing complexity while delivering 60 gigawatts in a 100-nanosecond pulse with 95% energy efficiency. These "shots" are individual firings of the pulsed-power system used to evaluate the durability of its components after multiple tries. The reliability campaign was conducted through a CRADA with Pacific Fusion, which is developing an inertial fusion energy system based on the same IMG technology, the article said. Researchers said completing 3,000 shots demonstrates the durability required for future accelerator concepts that could operate for decades and support applications including fusion energy, high-energy-density physics and stockpile modernization. Pacific Fusion said the testing also validated models used to scale its own pulsed-power technology. The company recently demonstrated a larger prototype delivering about 440 gigawatts and plans to complete a full-scale module later this year as it works toward a net facility gain fusion demonstration system. Pacific Fusion said in September 2025 it is building a demonstration facility worth $1 billion in Albuquerque, N.M., with groundbreaking planned for Aug. 25.