CEA-CESTA

Company information :
Established on a 700 hectares area near Bordeaux, the CEA center for scientific and technical studies in Aquitania (CESTA) employs more than 1000 people.
CESTA is in charge of the French nuclear warheads design and demonstrates their operational performances. This demonstration is given through a testing/modeling twin-track approach implementing a lot of test facilities, physical modeling and supercomputers.
CESTA hosts the Laser Mégajoule LMJ which is the largest laser facility in Europe. This uses 176 high-energy laser pulses which allow heating the matter till the extreme conditions encountered in the functioning of nuclear weapons or within stars. Inside the LMJ facility, the ultra-intense PETAL laser (Petawatt Aquitaine laser), funded by the CEA, the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, the French government and the European Union, is dedicated to researchers from the international academic community.