The use of synchrotron radiation by a great variety of fields has increased steadily worldwide. This, to a large extent, is a result of the availability of the much brighter third-generation light sources, which allowed the development of new experimental techniques. Brazil gave an important contribution to science through the development of the necessary technology and the construction of the first synchrotron in the Southern Hemisphere, the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory (LNLS), a second-generation machine, still the only one in Latin America, that operates this installation as an open facility since 1997. Its pioneering activities in synchrotron science gave rise, with time, to the Brazilian Center for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), a complex of four National Laboratories – LNLS itself, the Brazilian Biosciences National Laboratory (LNBio), the Brazilian Biorenewables National Laboratory (LNBR) and the Brazilian Nanotechnology National Laboratory (LNNano).

Since 2009, the LNLS has been working on the project and construction of the new Brazilian Synchrotron Light Source – Sirius. It will be one of the first fourth-generation machines in the world and it is a national project. It is being planned to be a state-of-the-art light source, providing cutting edge research tools that are nonexistent today in Brazil. In this talk an overview of the main characteristics, potentialities and status of the project will be provided.