Măgurele


Măgurele is a town situated in the southwestern part of Ilfov County, Muntenia, Romania. Its population is 9,200. Four villages are administered by the town: Alunișu, Dumitrana, Pruni and Vârteju.
The town hosts a nuclear research lab, the Institute of Atomic Physics and its National Institute for Physics and Nuclear Engineering. Between 1957 and 1998, it had a Soviet VVRS research reactor, now closed down. The Faculty of Physics of the University of Bucharest is also located in Măgurele.
According to a Romanian government press release, the high power laser system project of the Extreme Light Infrastructure - Nuclear Physics Center achieved the power of 10 petawatts on 7 March 2019, becoming the most powerful laser in the world.

History

Its name is derived from a Romanian word possibly of Dacian origin, măgură, meaning "hill".