Scientists of the Kurchatov Institute Research Center are working on a number of revolutionary projects

Scientists at the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center are working on several revolutionary projects at once to ensure technological sovereignty and food security. This was reported on April 12 by a correspondent of Izvestia.

One of the developments is the installation of tokamaks, which makes it possible to control the Sun in miniature. The goal of this experimental campaign is to learn how to better control incandescent plasma and curb thermonuclear fusion itself.

"We have reached currents exceeding half a megaampere. We got an elongated plasma. Now, in general, we are reaching the design parameters," said Natalia Kirneva, head of the Experimental Tokamak Physics Department at the Kurchatov Institute.

This is how the Kurchatov scientists are shaping Russia's technological sovereignty for decades to come, since in the future thermonuclear reactors can become a source of virtually limitless and clean energy. At the same time, back in the 1940s, the secret Laboratory No. 2, which was the prototype of the institute, forged the country's nuclear shield in a race against time. Without a controlled nuclear reaction, there would be neither the atomic bomb nor the peaceful use of the atom.

"In parallel, work was already underway on the creation of an industrial reactor, that is, the next stage on the way to the bomb, already a large reactor, to develop the filling for the bomb in the Urals," said Ekaterina Yatsishina, Deputy Director for Scientific Work at the Kurchatov Institute.

At the end of August 1949, the Soviet Union restored nuclear parity at the Semipalatinsk test site. Our country's nuclear triad is based on nuclear-powered missile submarines, which were created by Kurchatov's associate Anatoly Alexandrov. Vyacheslav Kuznetsov, a rookie of the Institute, who is now the head of the department for ensuring the activities of the honorary president of the Kurchatov Institute Research Center, also worked under him at that time.

"A decision was made in 1952 to build the first boat, the 627th design, serial number K-3. Then it got the name Leninsky Komsomol," Kuznetsov recalled.

At the same time, the peaceful atom was also being developed: a network of nuclear power plants at home and abroad, and a nuclear icebreaking fleet. The Kurchatov Institute is still at the forefront of science, mastering nature—like technologies, erecting Megascience installations, and uncovering the secrets of genes. According to Stepan Toshchakov, head of the Genomic Factory laboratory at the Kurchatov Genomic Center, engaging in genetic research allows for the development of several areas at once.

"The Genome Center is mainly focused on two areas: these are agriculture and industrial biotechnology. We are engaged in genetic research that can ensure the accelerated development of these two areas," he explained.

Meanwhile, in the laboratory, DNA or RNA molecules are converted into a so-called library, so that later a special sequencer device reads the sequence and turns the biological information into understandable symbols. Mikhail Kovalchuk, President of the Kurchatov Institute Research Center, noted that the decision to implement the nuclear project was the beginning of the formation of a technological superpower.

"Today you and I are alive and living in one of the few, almost single, sovereign states only because more than 80 years ago, in 1943, on April 12, our government and part of the scientific community made the right decision to implement the atomic project, which we successfully implemented and became a technological superpower." — he summarized.

Extraterrestrial attraction: space observatory will search for life in the universe

Will the Millimetron telescope be able to Use unique detectors to find intelligent beings on other planets.

On April 10, it became known that the Roscosmos State Corporation and the Kurchatov Institute National Research Center (NRC) signed an agreement on strategic cooperation in the implementation of the nuclear space program. Its main goal is to form scientific and technical foundations based on fundamental research and applied developments for the development of nuclear space technologies, as well as accelerated industrial development and market launch of such foundations.