Refurbishing the Vulcan laser facility to house the world’s most powerful laser
Our Structural Engineering team at Glanville are proud to be working on an exciting new project at the Vulcan Laser Facility on the Harwell Campus, Oxford. The facility upgrade project follows The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) Central Laser Facility (CLF) being awarded £85 million by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI).
Having successfully delivered the Extreme Photonics Applications Centre (EPAC) for the CLF & STFC, we are looking forward to working on another project with the same team:
- Contractor – Mace
- Architects – Fairhurst Design Group
- Mechanical and Electrical Engineering – Hoare Lea
- Fire Engineering – BB7
- Acoustic Engineering – RSK
- Concrete Specialist – OTB Concrete Ltd
The investment into this project supports a significant upgrade to the existing facility.
The new construction will house the Vulcan 20-20 laser – the most powerful laser in the world. This will allow scientists to work on finding new renewable energy sources and studying nuclear fusion, plasma and electromagnetic fields.
Former Minister of State for Science, George Freeman, said:
“Reestablishing Britain as home to the world’s most powerful laser is an exciting opportunity to explore the unexplored in astronomy and physics, stride towards new clean energy sources for the good of our planet and much more.”
Photo from the Central Laser Facility
The Vulcan facility
Vulcan is a powerful laser system used in experiments in research for fusion energy, electron and ion acceleration, laboratory astrophysics and plasma physics. The facility delivers a laser beam 10,000 times more powerful than the National Grid! This supports a range of programmes and research across the UK.
The project will be facilitating the upgraded Vulcan 20-20 laser. This will be 100 times brighter than the current laser and a million, billion, billion times brighter than the Sahara Desert’s brightest sunlight.
Executive Chair of STFC and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Champion for Infrastructure, Professor Mark Thompson, said:
“The Vulcan 20-20 programme will keep the Central Laser Facility at the cutting edge of the highest-power laser science and enable entirely new experiments in crucial areas such as renewable energy research.”
Project details
Our structural engineers will work alongside the design team and other experts to create and install a second seven-metre tall bunker with up to 2m thick walls as well as office, service and plant spaces. Working alongside the concrete specialist, these will be formed in a dense high % GBBS concrete to shield the laser’s intense beams.
The entire upgrade programme is expected to take six years to complete. This project will help advance the UK science sector, placing the UK at the cutting edge of global laser science. It will also create new jobs for scientists, designers, engineers and technicians.
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