Testing of atomic weapons in the USSR. The first atomic bomb test in the Soviet Union

A democratic form of governance must be established in the USSR.
Vernadsky V.I.

The atomic bomb in the USSR was created on August 29, 1949 (the first successful launch). The project was led by academician Igor Vasilievich Kurchatov. The period of development of atomic weapons in the USSR lasted from 1942, and ended with testing on the territory of Kazakhstan. This broke the US monopoly on such weapons, because since 1945 they were the only nuclear power. The article is devoted to describing the history of the emergence of the Soviet nuclear bomb, as well as characterizing the consequences of these events for the USSR.

History of creation

In 1941, representatives of the USSR in New York conveyed information to Stalin that a meeting of physicists was being held in the United States, which was devoted to the development of nuclear weapons. Soviet scientists in the 1930s also worked on atomic research, the most famous being the splitting of the atom by scientists from Kharkov led by L. Landau. However, it never came to the point of actual use in weapons. In addition to the United States, Nazi Germany worked on this. At the end of 1941, the United States began its atomic project. Stalin learned about this at the beginning of 1942 and signed a decree on the creation of a laboratory in the USSR to create an atomic project, Academician I. Kurchatov became its leader.

There is an opinion that the work of US scientists was accelerated by the secret developments of German colleagues who came to America. In any case, in the summer of 1945, at the Potsdam Conference, the new US President G. Truman informed Stalin about the completion of work on a new weapon - the atomic bomb. Moreover, to demonstrate the work of American scientists, the US government decided to test the new weapon in combat: on August 6 and 9, bombs were dropped on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was the first time that humanity learned about a new weapon. It was this event that forced Stalin to speed up the work of his scientists. I. Kurchatov was summoned by Stalin and promised to fulfill any demands of the scientist, as long as the process proceeded as quickly as possible. Moreover, a state committee was created under the Council of People's Commissars, which oversaw the Soviet atomic project. It was headed by L. Beria.

Development has moved to three centers:

The design bureau of the Kirov plant, working on the creation of special equipment.
A diffuse plant in the Urals, which was supposed to work on the creation of enriched uranium.
Chemical and metallurgical centers where plutonium was studied. It was this element that was used in the first Soviet-style nuclear bomb.

In 1946, the first Soviet unified nuclear center was created. It was a secret facility Arzamas-16, located in the city of Sarov (Nizhny Novgorod region). In 1947, the first nuclear reactor was created at an enterprise near Chelyabinsk. In 1948, a secret training ground was created on the territory of Kazakhstan, near the city of Semipalatinsk-21. It was here that on August 29, 1949, the first explosion of the Soviet atomic bomb RDS-1 was organized. This event was kept completely secret, but American Pacific aviation was able to record a sharp increase in radiation levels, which was evidence of the testing of a new weapon. Already in September 1949, G. Truman announced the presence of an atomic bomb in the USSR. Officially, the USSR admitted to the presence of these weapons only in 1950.

Several main consequences of the successful development of atomic weapons by Soviet scientists can be identified:

Loss of the US status as a single state with atomic weapons. This not only equalized the USSR with the USA in terms of military power, but also forced the latter to think through each of their military steps, since now they had to fear for the response of the USSR leadership.
The presence of atomic weapons in the USSR secured its status as a superpower.
After the USA and the USSR were equalized in the availability of atomic weapons, the race for their quantity began. States spent huge amounts of money to outdo their competitors. Moreover, attempts began to create even more powerful weapons.
These events marked the start of the nuclear race. Many countries have begun to invest resources to add to the list of nuclear weapons states and ensure their security.

On July 29, 1985, General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Mikhail Gorbachev announced the decision of the USSR to unilaterally stop any nuclear explosions before January 1, 1986. We decided to talk about five famous nuclear test sites that existed in the USSR.

Semipalatinsk test site

The Semipalatinsk Test Site is one of the largest nuclear test sites in the USSR. It also came to be known as SITP. The test site is located in Kazakhstan, 130 km northwest of Semipalatinsk, on the left bank of the Irtysh River. The landfill area is 18,500 sq km. On its territory is the previously closed city of Kurchatov. The Semipalatinsk test site is famous for the fact that the first nuclear weapons test in the Soviet Union was conducted here. The test was carried out on August 29, 1949. The bomb's yield was 22 kilotons.

On August 12, 1953, the RDS-6s thermonuclear charge with a yield of 400 kilotons was tested at the test site. The charge was placed on a tower 30 m above the ground. As a result of this test, part of the test site was very heavily contaminated with radioactive products of the explosion, and a small background remains in some places to this day. On November 22, 1955, the RDS-37 thermonuclear bomb was tested over the test site. It was dropped by an airplane at an altitude of about 2 km. On October 11, 1961, the first underground nuclear explosion in the USSR was carried out at the test site. From 1949 to 1989, at least 468 nuclear tests were carried out at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, including 125 atmospheric and 343 underground nuclear test explosions.

Nuclear tests have not been carried out at the test site since 1989.

Test site on Novaya Zemlya

The test site on Novaya Zemlya was opened in 1954. Unlike the Semipalatinsk test site, it was removed from populated areas. The nearest large settlement - the village of Amderma - was located 300 km from the test site, Arkhangelsk - more than 1000 km, Murmansk - more than 900 km.

From 1955 to 1990, 135 nuclear explosions were carried out at the test site: 87 in the atmosphere, 3 underwater and 42 underground. In 1961, the most powerful hydrogen bomb in human history was exploded on Novaya Zemlya - the 58-megaton Tsar Bomba, also known as Kuzka's Mother.

In August 1963, the USSR and the USA signed a treaty banning nuclear tests in three environments: in the atmosphere, outer space and under water. Limitations were also adopted on the power of the charges. Underground explosions continued to occur until 1990.

Totsky training ground

The Totsky training ground is located in the Volga-Ural Military District, 40 km east of the city of Buzuluk. In 1954, tactical military exercises under the code name “Snowball” were held here. The exercise was led by Marshal Georgy Zhukov. The purpose of the exercise was to test the capabilities of breaking through enemy defenses using nuclear weapons. Materials related to these exercises have not yet been declassified.

During an exercise on September 14, 1954, a Tu-4 bomber dropped an RDS-2 nuclear bomb with a yield of 38 kilotons of TNT from an altitude of 8 km. The explosion was carried out at an altitude of 350 meters. 600 tanks, 600 armored personnel carriers and 320 aircraft were sent to attack the contaminated territory. The total number of military personnel who took part in the exercises was about 45 thousand people. As a result of the exercise, thousands of its participants received varying doses of radioactive radiation. Participants in the exercise were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which resulted in the victims being unable to tell doctors about the causes of their illnesses and receive adequate treatment.

Kapustin Yar

The Kapustin Yar training ground is located in the northwestern part of the Astrakhan region. The test site was created on May 13, 1946 to test the first Soviet ballistic missiles.

Since the 1950s, at least 11 nuclear explosions have been carried out at the Kapustin Yar test site at altitudes from 300 m to 5.5 km. The total yield of which is approximately 65 atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima. On January 19, 1957, a Type 215 anti-aircraft guided missile was tested at the test site. It had a 10 kt nuclear warhead, designed to combat the main US nuclear strike force - strategic aviation. The missile exploded at an altitude of about 10 km, hitting the target aircraft: 2 Il-28 bombers controlled by radio control. This was the first high-air nuclear explosion in the USSR.

Semipalatinsk test site

Nuclear tests have not been carried out at the test site since 1989.

Test site on Novaya Zemlya

From 1955 to 1990, 135 nuclear explosions were carried out at the test site: 87 in the atmosphere, 3 underwater and 42 underground. In 1961, the most powerful hydrogen bomb in human history, the 58-megaton Tsar Bomba, also known as Kuzka’s Mother, was exploded on Novaya Zemlya.

Totsky training ground

During an exercise on September 14, 1954, a Tu-4 bomber dropped an RDS-2 nuclear bomb with a yield of 38 kilotons of TNT from an altitude of 8 km. The explosion was carried out at an altitude of 350 m. 600 tanks, 600 armored personnel carriers and 320 aircraft were sent to attack the contaminated territory. The total number of military personnel who took part in the exercises was about 45 thousand people. As a result of the exercise, thousands of its participants received varying doses of radioactive radiation. Participants in the exercises were required to sign a non-disclosure agreement, which resulted in the victims being unable to tell doctors about the causes of their illnesses and receive adequate treatment.

Kapustin Yar

The Kapustin Yar training ground is located in the northwestern part of the Astrakhan region. The test site was created on May 13, 1946 to test the first Soviet ballistic missiles.

Since the 1950s, at least 11 nuclear explosions have been carried out at the Kapustin Yar test site at altitudes ranging from 300 m to 5.5 km, the total yield of which is approximately 65 atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima. On January 19, 1957, a Type 215 anti-aircraft guided missile was tested at the test site. It had a 10-kiloton nuclear warhead, designed to combat the main US nuclear strike force - strategic aviation. The missile exploded at an altitude of about 10 km, hitting the target aircraft - two Il-28 bombers controlled by radio control. This was the first high air nuclear explosion in the USSR.

It is believed that testing is a prerequisite for the development of new nuclear weapons, since no computer simulators or simulators can replace a real test. Therefore, limiting testing is intended, first of all, to prevent the development of new nuclear systems by those states that already have them, and to prevent other states from becoming owners of nuclear weapons.

However, a full-scale nuclear test is not always required. For example, the uranium bomb dropped on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945, was not tested in any way.

This thermonuclear aerial bomb was developed in the USSR in 1954-1961. a group of nuclear physicists under the leadership of Academician of the USSR Academy of Sciences I.V. Kurchatov. This is the most powerful explosive device in the history of mankind. The total energy of the explosion, according to various sources, ranged from 57 to 58.6 megatons of TNT.

Khrushchev personally announced the upcoming tests of a 50-megaton bomb in his report on October 17, 1961 at the XXII Congress of the CPSU. They took place on October 30, 1961 within the Sukhoi Nos nuclear test site (Novaya Zemlya). The carrier aircraft managed to fly a distance of 39 km, but despite this, it was thrown into a dive by the shock wave and lost 800 m of altitude before control was restored.

The main political and propaganda goal set before this test was a clear demonstration of the Soviet Union's possession of unlimited weapons of mass destruction - the TNT equivalent of the most powerful thermonuclear bomb at that time in the United States was almost four times smaller. The goal was fully achieved.

Castle Bravo was an American test of a thermonuclear explosive device at Bikini Atoll. The first of a series of seven Operation Castle challenges. The energy released during the explosion reached 15 megatons, making Castle Bravo the most powerful of all US nuclear tests.

The explosion resulted in severe radiation contamination of the environment, which caused concern throughout the world and led to a serious revision of existing views on nuclear weapons. According to some American sources, this was the worst case of radioactive contamination in the entire history of American nuclear activity.

On April 28, 1958, during the "Grapple Y" test over Christmas Island (Kiribati), Britain dropped a 3-megaton bomb - the most powerful British thermonuclear device.

After the successful explosion of megaton-class devices, the United States entered into nuclear cooperation with Great Britain, concluding an agreement in 1958 on the joint development of nuclear weapons.

During the Canopus tests in August 1968, France exploded ( it was a powerful explosion) thermonuclear device of the Teller-Ulam type with a yield of about 2.6 megatons. However, few details are known about this test and the development of the French nuclear program in general.

France became the fourth country to test a nuclear bomb, in 1960. The country currently has about 300 strategic warheads deployed on four nuclear submarines, as well as 60 air-launched tactical warheads, which places it third in the world in terms of the number of nuclear weapons.

On June 17, 1967, the Chinese carried out the first successful test of a thermonuclear bomb. The test was carried out at the Lop Nor test site, the bomb was dropped from a Hong-6 aircraft ( analogue of the Soviet Tu-16 aircraft), was lowered by parachute to a height of 2960 m, where an explosion was produced, the power of which was 3.3 megatons.

After the completion of this test, China became the fourth thermonuclear power in the world after the USSR, USA and England.

According to American scientists, China's nuclear potential in 2009 included about 240 nuclear warheads, of which 180 were on alert duty, making it the fourth largest nuclear arsenal among the five major nuclear powers (USA, Russia, France, China, UK).

Since the first atomic explosion, code-named Trinity, on July 16, 1945, nearly two thousand atomic bomb tests have been conducted, most of them in the 1960s and 1970s.
When this technology was new, tests were carried out frequently, and they were quite a spectacle.

All of them led to the development of newer and more powerful nuclear weapons. But since the 1990s, governments around the world have begun to restrict future testing, such as the US moratorium and the UN Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty.

A selection of photographs from the first 30 years of atomic bomb testing:

Upshot-Knothole Grable nuclear test explosion in Nevada on May 25, 1953. A 280-millimeter nuclear projectile was fired from the M65 cannon, detonated in the air - about 150 meters above the ground - and produced an explosion with a yield of 15 kilotons. (U.S. Department of Defense)

Open wiring of a nuclear device codenamed The Gadget (unofficial name of the Trinity project) - the first atomic test explosion. The device was prepared for the explosion that occurred on July 16, 1945. (U.S. Department of Defense)

Shadow of Los Alamos National Laboratory Director Jay Robert Oppenheimer overseeing the assembly of the Gadget projectile. (U.S. Department of Defense)

The 200-ton steel Jumbo container used in the Trinity project was made to recover the plutonium in case the explosive suddenly started a chain reaction. In the end, Jumbo was not useful, but he was placed near the epicenter to measure the effects of the explosion. Jumbo survived the explosion, but his supporting frame did not. (U.S. Department of Defense)

The growing fireball and blast wave of the Trinity explosion 0.025 seconds after the explosion on July 16, 1945. (U.S. Department of Defense)

Long exposure photo of the Trinity explosion a few seconds after detonation. (U.S. Department of Defense)

The fireball of the “fungus” of the world’s first atomic explosion. (U.S. Department of Defense)

US troops watch an explosion during Operation Crossroads at Bikini Atoll on July 25, 1946. This was the fifth atomic explosion after the first two test bombs and the two atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. (U.S. Department of Defense)

A nuclear mushroom and a column of spray in the sea during a nuclear bomb test at Bikini Atoll in the Pacific Ocean. This was the first underwater atomic test explosion. After the explosion, several former warships ran aground. (AP Photo)

A huge nuclear mushroom after a bomb exploded on Bikini Atoll on July 25, 1946. The dark dots in the foreground are ships placed specifically in the path of the blast wave to test what it would do to them. (AP Photo)

On November 16, 1952, a B-36H bomber dropped an atomic bomb on the northern part of Runit Island on Enewetak Atoll. The result was an explosion with a yield of 500 kilotons and a diameter of 450 meters. (U.S. Department of Defense)

Operation Greenhouse took place in the spring of 1951. It consisted of four explosions at the Pacific Nuclear Test Site in the Pacific Ocean. This is a photo of the third test, codenamed "George", conducted on May 9, 1951. It was the first explosion to burn deuterium and tritium. Power - 225 kilotons. (U.S. Department of Defense)

The "rope tricks" of a nuclear explosion, captured less than one millisecond after the explosion. During Operation Tumbler Snapper in 1952, this nuclear device was suspended 90 meters above the Nevada desert on mooring cables. As the plasma spread, the emitted energy overheated and vaporized the cables above the fireball, resulting in these “spikes.” (U.S. Department of Defense)

During Operation Upshot Knothole, a group of mannequins were placed in the dining room of a house to test the effects of a nuclear explosion on houses and people. March 15, 1953. (AP Photo/Dick Strobel)

This is what happened to them after the nuclear explosion. (U.S. Department of Defense)

In the same house number two, on the second floor, there was another mannequin lying on the bed. In the window of the house you can see a 90-meter steel tower on which a nuclear bomb will soon explode. The purpose of the test explosion is to show people what would happen if a nuclear explosion occurred in an American city. (AP Photo/Dick Strobel)

A damaged bedroom, windows and blankets that disappeared to God knows where after the test explosion of an atomic bomb on March 17, 1953. (U.S. Department of Defense)

Mannequins representing a typical American family sit in the living room of Test House 2 at the Nevada Nuclear Test Site. (AP Photo)

The same “family” after the explosion. Some were scattered throughout the living room, others simply disappeared. (U.S. Department of Defense)

During Operation Plumb at the Nevada nuclear test site on August 30, 1957, a shell detonated from a balloon in the Yucca Flat Desert at an altitude of 228 meters. (National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office)

Test explosion of a hydrogen bomb during Operation Redwing over Bikini Atoll on May 20, 1956. (AP Photo)

Ionization glow around a cooling fireball in the Yucca Desert at 4:30 a.m. on July 15, 1957. (National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office)

The flash of an air-to-air missile's nuclear warhead exploding at 7:30 a.m. on July 19, 1957, at Indian Springs Air Force Base, 48 km from the explosion site. In the foreground is the Scorpion aircraft of the same type. (National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office)

The fireball of the Priscilla shell on June 24, 1957 during the Plumb series of operations. (National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office)

NATO officials observe an explosion during Operation Boltzmann on May 28, 1957. (National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office)

The tail section of a US Navy airship after a nuclear weapons test in Nevada on August 7, 1957. The airship was floating in free flight, more than 8 km from the epicenter of the explosion, when it was overtaken by the blast wave. There was no one in the airship. (National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office)

Observers during Operation Hardtack I, the 1958 thermonuclear bomb explosion. (National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office)

The Arkansas test was part of Operation Dominic, a series of more than 100 explosions in Nevada and the Pacific Ocean in 1962. (U.S. Department of Defense)

Part of the Fishbowl Bluegill series of high-altitude nuclear tests, a 400-kiloton explosion in the atmosphere, 48 km above the Pacific Ocean. View from above. October 1962. (U.S. Department of Defense)

Rings around a nuclear mushroom during the Yeso test project in 1962. (U.S. Department of Defense)

Sedan Crater was formed by the detonation of 100 kilotons of explosives 193 meters below the soft desert sediments of Nevada on July 6, 1962. The crater turned out to be 97 meters deep and 390 meters in diameter. (National Nuclear Security Administration/Nevada Site Office)

Photo of the French government's nuclear explosion on Mururoa Atoll in 1971. (AP Photo)

The same nuclear explosion on Mururoa Atoll. (Pierre J. / CC BY NC SA)

The “Surviving City” was built 2,286 meters from the epicenter of a 29-kiloton nuclear explosion. The house remained practically intact. The "survival city" consisted of houses, office buildings, shelters, power sources, communications, radio stations and "living" vans. The test, codenamed Apple II, took place on May 5, 1955. (U.S. Department of Defense)

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