[DigitalToday reporter Hyun-woo Choo] Pacific Fusion has unveiled the latest prototype of its pulser module, the core equipment for a fusion demonstration power plant. On June 2 (local time), IT outlet TechCrunch reported the prototype recorded peak output of 440 gigawatts for 80 nanoseconds. It said this led to a planned groundbreaking for the demonstration plant this summer and additional deployment of Series A funding totaling more than $1 billion. The amount of the additional deployment was not disclosed.

The prototype is the size of a shipping container, about one-third of the full module. It consists of 9 stages and 90 bricks. Chief Technology Officer Keith LeSien (키스 르시엔) said the prototype met the requirements needed to scale up to a large demonstration system.

Pacific Fusion is pursuing inertial confinement fusion power. Its reactor uses 156 pulser modules to deliver a strong electrical shock to a small fuel target inside a fusion chamber. The electrical pulse creates a magnetic field around an eraser-sized fuel pellet, compressing it sharply to induce a fusion reaction.

The next task is to scale from the reduced-size prototype to a full-size pulser module. The demonstration device will contain 156 full-size pulser modules. Each module consists of 32 circular stages, with 10 bricks arranged around each stage. Each brick contains 2 capacitors that store power and 1 switch that discharges it.

Pacific Fusion plans to begin building the demonstration plant without waiting for full-size module test results. It will start site work this summer, and the demonstration plant aims to generate more electricity than is needed to operate the facility. This is a stage no one has yet achieved.

Pacific Fusion wants to use relatively low-cost electrical switches and capacitors at scale instead of large lasers. Each of these components must produce an electrical pulse of about 100 nanoseconds at precisely the right timing. If the capacitors fail to release energy on time, the fuel pellet will not be compressed quickly enough and a fusion reaction will not occur.

So far, inertial confinement is the only approach that has achieved a controlled fusion reaction that produces more energy than the input energy. The only case that has achieved and reproduced this result is the National Ignition Facility at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Pacific Fusion is aiming directly beyond scientific breakeven to facility breakeven in its demonstration plant.