Kim Budil

Director, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

Appears in 1 story

Education: University of California, Davis, University of Illinois Chicago

Last updated Nov 2, 2026

Stories

The race to repeatable fusion ignition

New Capabilities

First woman to lead LLNL, overseeing ignition achievements

NIF achieved ignition for the 11th time on June 20, 2026, producing 7.9 megajoules from 2.08 megajoules of laser energy. The Department of Energy approved a laser upgrade in April that will push NIF's laser energy from 2.2 to 2.6 megajoules, which would allow the 8.6-megajoule yield record to be broken.

Updated Oct 22