More info on the HELEN and ORION LASERS.
BBC NEWS | UK | Inside the UK's nuclear weapons bunker
Behind rings of intimidating barbed wire fences in a corner of Berkshire lies a facility which, on the surface, looks like a throwback to the 1950s.
But go inside the vintage buildings and you will find some of the UK's most cutting edge science.
The 10-minute safety presentation for visitors makes it abundantly clear that you are not entering a normal government site.
As well as the standard guidance about fire alarms, there's also information on what to do in the event of a "criticality alert" as well as warnings about lasers, beryllium and the presence of armed police.
The Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE) in Aldermaston is one of the most secure sites in Britain for a reason - it has been the sole repository for the UK's atomic warhead capability for more than 50 years.
The output of the laser facility will be more than the electrical output of the entire planet for the period it is operating - but that is only a tiny fraction of a second
Dr Brian Bowsher
Deep inside the heart of the sprawling 700-acre (280ha) site is a secure bunker containing plutonium for Britain's nuclear warheads.
Lying around it is what feels like a small town which exists to service Britain's nuclear arsenal using the latest science.
AWE is responsible for designing, building, maintaining and decommissioning Britain's nuclear warheads - this includes maintaining the capability to build a replacement for Trident should the order be given from the government.
The main challenge for AWE is to be able to guarantee the safety and performance of Britain's warheads when it is no longer possible to test the devices underground.
Hi-tech specifications
Doing this requires some pretty fancy science and our visit focused on one particular aspect - plasma physics and the use of lasers to understand the behaviour of materials at high temperatures and pressures such as those found in a nuclear weapon.
The Helen laser sits in an ageing building which feels as though it dates from the period around World War II when the site was an airfield.
In a small control room, technicians wearing protective suits (to keep dust away from the £30,000 glass lenses) sit at a large terminal as the laser charges.
After a countdown that builds expectation, the actual firing is anti-climactic for the casual observer - no great flashes or sounds or even anything in particular to see.
But what has happened in the adjacent room which houses the laser is remarkable.
The cost of the electricity to charge the system is about 10p.
But by concentrating the energy over a fraction of a second and on a tiny space, the power generated by the laser is more than that of the entire electrical output of the UK.
The new Orion facility being built to replace Helen will be 10 times more powerful, replicating even more closely the environment within a nuclear warhead.
Huge output
"The amount of energy in the laser is relatively modest," explains Dr Brian Bowsher, Director for Research and Applied Science.
"Only enough to heat up a cup of coffee by a few degrees. Our trick is that we'll deliver that energy in a tiny, tiny amount of time, a million millionth of a second and concentrate it in a tiny area.
"That generates huge power densities. In fact, the output of the laser facility will be more than the electrical output of the entire planet for the period it is operating - but that is only a tiny fraction of a second."
The new Orion facility under construction
The new Orion facility will be even more powerful than Helen
The laser fires on to a tiny target, typically weighing about 50 micrograms, whose behaviour is examined in excruciating detail.
Other work done at the site includes the study of hydrodynamics, radiochemistry, forensic seismology and the use of some of the most advanced super-computers.
The advanced science can have spin-offs.
It was scientists from Aldermaston who were the first to establish that the former Russian security officer Alexander Litvinenko had been poisoned in London by the rare, radioactive Isotope Polonium 210 - a discovery which allowed the police to follow a contamination trail and build their case.
Continuous testing
Nuclear weapons are the core business of AWE. Trident is due to last into the 2020s but continued testing is vital, according to Dr Bowsher.
"You might think of it a bit like your Formula 1 car: you don't want to turn it on after 30 years and hope that it works.
"You want to test it continually to make sure you understand the effect of age and various other changes of materials to ensure that the tried and tested meets the safety criteria."
The new Orion laser is being built in an incongruously modern curved structure on the edge of the site.
It is the largest investment in a physics facility the UK has ever made and should be ready by 2010.
If the government gives the go ahead, it will be used not just to test the current Trident system but also to develop Britain's new nuclear weapons system, a decision which would keep the scientists at Aldermaston busy for many years to come.
So something that uses more power than the entire world can only heat a cup of coffee only by a few degrees. Did you get my point???????
And you expect it to blow up a city.ROFLMAO
New space based WMD!!!!!!!!!
We will heat your cuppa in 1 second or less!!!!!
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