History

On 9 April, 1946, the Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers N 805-327 established “Laboratory number two”, or Design Department N 11 (KB-11) under the auspices of the USSR Academy of Sciences – one of the top secret enterprises for development of the home-made nuclear weapons. The same Decree asserted P.M. Zernov – the Deputy Minister for transport mechanical engineering as the Director of KB-11 and Yuli Borisovitch Khariton as the Chief Designer. 
KB-11 was deployed on the basis of Factory number 50, manufacturing artillery casings at the time. The factory was located in Sarova settlement, - the homeland of the famous Sarov Monastery. Specialists for the first USSR nuclear weapon center were selected independent of their departmental membership. The majority of the “pioneers” were bright personalities, who used to think extraordinary and disposed of enormous intellectual capabilities. Beside the outstanding scientists and engineers the great impact into development of the first domestic nuclear bomb was made by high-qualified workers, without whom implementation of the bravest technical solutions could hardly be possible.
It is just in a few years, that the hi-tech and science-intensive branch of industry was established in the exhausted by the War country, which was eager to solve the most complicated tasks providing safety and security of the state. KB-11 became the leader of the branch. On 29 August, 1949 the first home-made atomic bomb RDS-1, assembled in our city was tested. Having mastered the secrets of nuclear energy, our industry stipulated the military parity between the two world leaders: the USSR and the USA. The nuclear shield, first represented by the legendary RDS-1, protects our Homeland till today. In 1992 by the Order of the RF President, All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics (VNIIEF) was given the status of the Russian Federal Nuclear Center (RFNC).