![]() ![]() France meanwhile has its Laser Mégajoule, with 80 beams currently delivering 350 kilojoules, though it aims to have 176 beams delivering 1.3 megajoules by 2026. But concentrating this energy onto a tiny area can create very high temperatures and pressures. Looked at in one way, a megajoule is not an enormous amount-it’s equivalent to 240 food calories, similar to a light meal. ![]() Its 192 separate beams combine to deliver 1.8 megajoules of energy. The United States has its National Ignition Facility (NIF), currently the world’s most energetic laser system. ![]() Until now, Russia has been unique among the best-established nuclear powers in not having a high-energy laser. “It’s a substantial investment by the Russians in their nuclear weapons,” says Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear nonproliferation researcher at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California. Laser experiments allow testing without letting a nuke off. With an old warhead, they can checkthat it still works as intended. By creating explosions in small samples of material-either research samples or tiny amounts from existing nuclear weapons-scientists can then calculate how a full-blown bomb is likely to perform. Scientists can use them to simulate what happens when a nuclear warhead detonates. High-energy lasers can concentrate energy on groups of atoms, increasing temperature and pressure to start nuclear reactions. Inside a huge facility, 10 stories high and covering the area of two football fields, they are building what’s officially known as UFL-2M-or, as the Russian media has dubbed it, the “Tsar Laser.” If completed, it will be the highest-energy laser in the world. In the closed town of Sarov, roughly 350 kilometers east of Moscow, scientists are busy working on a project to help keep Russia’s nuclear weapons operational long into the future. ![]()
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