The Russian Research Centre Kurchatov Institute, the first state national research Center of Russia, was set up in place of the I. V. Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy (former Laboratory No. 2 of the USSR Academy of Sciences founded in 1943) in November 1991 in accordance with the Decree of President of Russia.

The Centre is placed under the direct authority of the Russian Government and does not enter either the Russian Academy of Sciences or any branch ministry.

The Russian Research Centre Kurchatov Institute has available a high-capacity high-resource research and experimental basis which includes large and sophisticated installations (plasma thermonuclear installations, various-purpose nuclear reactors, various-type accelerators, test facilities and other unique research equipment) as well as designing basis, large pilot-scale production. This extensive basis permits a full cycle of studies from the birth of scientific idea to development of technology and fabrication of finished product to be accomplished.

• Institute for Superconductivity and Solid State Physics, Russian Research Centre "Kurchatov Institute"