Sandia National Laboratories operates the Z Machine, the most powerful pulsed-power and X-ray source on Earth, and has begun public pitches to build a successor roughly ten times its size. According to reporting by KOB 4 on September 18, 2026, the proposed expansion lacks a published timeline, site, or cost estimate while moving through initial reviews with the National Nuclear Security Administration.
How the Z Machine Delivers Terawatt-Scale Power Surges
The Z Machine is a massive capacitor bank consisting of 2,160 individual capacitors arranged in 36 groups known as Marx banks. When charged to their standard 85 kilovolts, these banks hold between 20 and 23 megajoules of electrical energy. Operators discharge this energy in roughly 100 nanoseconds—or 100 billionths of a second—using self-break water switches that blast the pulse through a channel of water between two electrodes. According to Sandia documentation, this rapid discharge pushes peak electrical power to 80 terawatts while driving about 26 million amps into the target.
Greg Rochau, director of the Z Machine Center, told KOB 4 that every shot packs over 1,000 times the electricity of a lightning bolt and moves 20,000 times faster. This intense electrical delivery converges on a vacuum chamber measuring 10 feet across and 20 feet tall, housing a target no larger than a spool of thread. The standard target utilizes hundreds of tungsten wires, each finer than a human hair, which the current instantly vaporizes into plasma. The resulting magnetic field drives the plasma inward, producing an X-ray flash that peaks at 350 terawatts.
Simulating Nuclear Detonations and Fusion Inside the Albuquerque Facility
Sandia uses the facility roughly 200 times a year to replicate extreme conditions without actual nuclear detonations. Chris Seagle, Sandia’s senior manager of material physics, stated that the machine reaches densities and pressures similar to those found inside the sun’s core and weapons systems. More than 70 shots on the Z-machine’s MagLIF program have crushed metal tubes less than half an inch tall onto fusion fuel to achieve thermonuclear conditions. The primary national security function, however, involves generating radiation environments that simulate nuclear explosions to test the durability of stockpile materials and components.
The physical toll of these operations is immediate. The rapid discharge and internal water explosions generate mechanical shockwaves that register as minor tremors in the nearby Sandia Mountains. Rochau noted that the machine “creates a mini little earthquake” around the facility with every firing. Five nested stainless steel cones weighing about 10 tons sit at the center of the vacuum chamber to carry the pulse, requiring complete refurbishment after every single shot.
Evaluating the Proposed Tenfold Expansion Under NNSA Review
Sandia officials state that the current Z Machine footprint has reached its limits. Seagle explained that the existing hardware cannot generate every extreme density required by the national security mission. Consequently, the laboratory has pitched a successor facility roughly ten times larger to the National Nuclear Security Administration. Because Pacific Fusion is simultaneously constructing a private pulsed-power facility using 150 truck-sized modules across town, Albuquerque continues to anchor advanced high-energy density physics research.
Despite the concept moving through initial agency review, the project faces a federal approval process. Any construction depends on formal budget requests from the NNSA and subsequent funding approval by Congress. No ground has been broken, and officials have not disclosed a projected budget or completion date.
Operational Facts at a Glance
- Energy Output: 20 to 23 megajoules discharged in approximately 100 nanoseconds.
- Current and Power: Reaches 26 million amps and 80 terawatts of peak electrical power.
- Firing Frequency: Operates about 200 times annually, requiring post-shot hardware rebuilds.
- Oversight: Managed by Sandia National Laboratories under the National Nuclear Security Administration.
Frequently Asked Questions About the Z Machine Successor
What is the primary purpose of the Z Machine?
The machine tests how nuclear weapon materials and components react to intense radiation environments without requiring actual nuclear detonations.
Why does the Z Machine cause local seismic tremors?
Self-break water switches discharge the electrical pulse by forcing current through channels of water between electrodes, producing mechanical shockwaves that rattle the nearby Sandia Mountains.
Has Congress approved funding for the proposed larger machine?
No. The concept is currently under review by the National Nuclear Security Administration, and lawmakers have not yet received formal cost estimates or established a funding timeline.
Keep reading