Today, Zap Energy announced that the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) has certified the completion of the company’s first technology milestone associated with the federal Milestone-Based Fusion Development Program. To achieve the milestone, Zap’s Century platform operated continuously for three hours, producing a series of 1,080 plasma shots at 0.1 Hz without failure. Meeting DOE specifications and validated by their expert review panel, each shot had at least 100 kA input current, and was discharged in a flowing liquid metal wall environment with a durable liquid-metal tipped cathode system. Zap was announced as a participant in the Milestone Program in May 2023.

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Century was commissioned in June 2024 as a demonstration platform designed for testing sub-scale power handling and thermohydraulic systems for a sheared-flow-stabilized Z-pinch fusion power plant. It is the first functional integration of repetitive pulsed power supplies, plasma-facing circulating liquid metal walls and a technology for mitigating electrode damage. Century’s plasma chamber is modeled after a Zap FuZE device, but does not produce fusion reactions since it generates regular hydrogen (protium) plasma pinches rather than deuterium ones. In the first six months of operation, Century produced 8,000 plasma shots in a wide range of configurations, while demonstrating strong reliability.

“In parallel with our efforts to advance plasma physics performance, Century enables us to address complex engineering challenges associated with power plant-critical systems,” said VP of Systems Engineering Matthew C. Thompson. “Century is a unique asset that is helping pave the way to our first fusion power plant.”

In the last six months, Zap has made several key upgrades to Century subsystems, including higher power capacity and a larger, more robust liquid metal loop with greater cooling capability. Over the next 18 months, Zap will operate Century at increasing power levels and repetition rates. Read more about Century here.

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