MOSCOW, August 12The world's most powerful laser installation, UFL-2M, created at the Sarov nuclear center, often figuratively called the «Tsar Laser» and necessary for conducting experiments on so-called controlled inertial thermonuclear fusion and research into the properties of matter in extreme states, will reach full capacity in about 5 years, said the director of the nuclear center, Hero of Russia Valentin Kostyukov.
On Monday, Kostyukov turned 75. 
«We have now implemented the first stage, we are at a fairly serious stage of justifying the costs and implementation timeframes for bringing it to full-scale capacity, which is currently the maximum. We have worked out the technology, we have worked out the physics, we have worked out the physical model, and launched the first stage of the physical foundations associated with engineering systems. I think that in the next 4-5 years this installation will operate at full capacity and will produce its results, including for solving individual issues,» Kostyukov said in an interview with the Russia 24 TV channel.
According to him, among the possible unusual tasks is «for example, such an exotic problem: how to eliminate asteroids.»
Young scientists from the Russian Federal Nuclear Center — All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (RFNC-VNIIEF, Sarov, Nizhny Novgorod Region) told Russian President Vladimir Putin about the progress of the UFL-2M project in early September 2023, when he visited Sarov. Putin called this project important for the economy, the national economy, and for increasing Russia's defense capability.
In pulsed inertial thermonuclear fusion systems, ultra-powerful lasers or beams of high-energy particles (ions, electrons) briefly heat and compress small targets containing the hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium. When certain temperature and density parameters are reached, thermonuclear fusion reactions begin. This type of fusion is called inertial, because the resulting plasma is kept from rapidly scattering by its own forces of inertia, due to which fusion reactions have time to undergo.
The Sarov installation UFL-2M is important for studying the extreme properties of matter, including from the point of view of studying the possibility of creating new energy sources, as well as understanding the processes occurring in stars. At the same time, as follows from open sources of information, the UFL-2M is indispensable for the development of Russian nuclear weapons. Such installations are being built by all the leading nuclear powers — after the introduction of a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing, the processes occurring at the moment of the explosion are simulated on them.
RFNC-VNIIEF (part of the nuclear weapons complex of the state corporation «Rosatom») was founded in 1946 to implement the Soviet atomic project. The first domestic atomic and hydrogen bombs were developed here. Currently, VNIIEF is the largest scientific and technical center in Russia, which successfully solves defense, scientific and national economic problems. The main task of VNIIEF was and remains work in the field of nuclear weapons of Russia, aimed at unconditionally guaranteeing the implementation of the Russian Federation's policy of nuclear deterrence.
Valentin Kostyukov has headed the Sarov nuclear center since 2008. His works play a leading role in the development of the calculation-theoretical, research, experimental and production base of the Russian nuclear weapons complex, ensuring its competitiveness in relation to the leading nuclear powers.