Who first invented the atomic bomb. “Tsar Bomba,” or how the Soviet Union created the most powerful nuclear weapon in history

Nuclear weapons are strategic weapons capable of solving global problems. Its use is associated with dire consequences for all humanity. This makes the atomic bomb not only a threat, but also a weapon of deterrence.

The appearance of weapons capable of putting an end to the development of mankind marked the beginning of a new era. The likelihood of a global conflict or a new world war is minimized due to the possibility of total destruction of the entire civilization.

Despite such threats, nuclear weapons continue to be in service with the leading countries of the world. To a certain extent, it is this that becomes the determining factor in international diplomacy and geopolitics.

The history of the creation of a nuclear bomb

The question of who invented the nuclear bomb does not have a clear answer in history. The discovery of the radioactivity of uranium is considered to be a prerequisite for work on atomic weapons. In 1896, the French chemist A. Becquerel discovered the chain reaction of this element, marking the beginning of developments in nuclear physics.

In the next decade, alpha, beta and gamma rays were discovered, as well as a number of radioactive isotopes of certain chemical elements. The subsequent discovery of the law of radioactive decay of the atom became the beginning for the study of nuclear isometry.

In December 1938, German physicists O. Hahn and F. Strassmann were the first to carry out a nuclear fission reaction under artificial conditions. On April 24, 1939, the German leadership was informed about the possibility of creating a new powerful explosive.

However, the German nuclear program was doomed to failure. Despite the successful progress of scientists, the country, due to the war, constantly experienced difficulties with resources, especially with the supply of heavy water. In the later stages, research was slowed down by constant evacuations. On April 23, 1945, the developments of German scientists were captured in Haigerloch and taken to the USA.

The United States became the first country to express interest in the new invention. In 1941, significant funds were allocated for its development and creation. The first tests took place on July 16, 1945. Less than a month later, the United States used nuclear weapons for the first time, dropping two bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The USSR's own research in the field of nuclear physics has been conducted since 1918. The Commission on the Atomic Nucleus was created in 1938 at the Academy of Sciences. However, with the outbreak of the war, its activities in this direction were suspended.

In 1943, information about scientific works in nuclear physics was received by Soviet intelligence officers from England. Agents were introduced into several US research centers. The information they obtained allowed them to accelerate the development of their own nuclear weapons.

The invention of the Soviet atomic bomb was led by I. Kurchatov and Yu. Khariton, they are considered the creators of the Soviet atomic bomb. Information about this became the impetus for the US preparation for preemptive war. In July 1949, the Trojan plan was developed, according to which it was planned to begin military operations on January 1, 1950.

The date was later moved to early 1957 so that all NATO countries could prepare and join the war. According to Western intelligence, nuclear weapons testing in the USSR could not have been carried out until 1954.

However, US preparations for war became known in advance, which forced Soviet scientists to speed up their research. In a short time they invent and create their own nuclear bomb. On August 29, 1949, the first Soviet atomic bomb RDS-1 (special jet engine) was tested at the test site in Semipalatinsk.

Such tests thwarted the Trojan plan. From that moment on, the United States ceased to have a monopoly on nuclear weapons. Regardless of the strength of the preemptive strike, there remained the risk of retaliatory action, which could lead to disaster. From that moment on, the most terrible weapon became the guarantor of peace between the great powers.

Principle of operation

The operating principle of an atomic bomb is based on a chain reaction of the decay of heavy nuclei or thermonuclear fusion of light ones. During these processes, a huge amount of energy is released, which turns the bomb into a weapon of mass destruction.

On September 24, 1951, tests of the RDS-2 were carried out. They could already be delivered to the launch points so that they could reach the United States. On October 18, the RDS-3, delivered by bomber, was tested.

Further testing moved on to thermonuclear fusion. The first tests of such a bomb in the United States took place on November 1, 1952. In the USSR, such a warhead was tested within 8 months.

TX nuclear bomb

Nuclear bombs do not have clear characteristics due to the variety of uses of such ammunition. However, there are a number of general aspects that must be taken into account when creating this weapon.

These include:

• axisymmetric structure of the bomb - all blocks and systems are placed in pairs in cylindrical, spherocylindrical or conical containers;
• when designing, they reduce the mass of a nuclear bomb by combining power units, choosing the optimal shape of shells and compartments, as well as using more durable materials;
• minimize the number of wires and connectors, and use a pneumatic line or explosive detonation cord to transmit the impact;
• blocking of the main components is carried out using partitions that are destroyed by pyroelectric charges;
• active substances are pumped using a separate container or external carrier.

Taking into account the requirements for the device, a nuclear bomb consists of the following components:

• a housing that provides protection for ammunition from physical and thermal effects - divided into compartments and can be equipped with a load-bearing frame;
• nuclear charge with power mount;
• self-destruction system with its integration into a nuclear charge;
• a power source designed for long-term storage - activated already during rocket launch;
• external sensors - to collect information;
• cocking, control and detonation systems, the latter embedded in the charge;
• systems for diagnostics, heating and maintaining a microclimate inside sealed compartments.

Depending on the type of nuclear bomb, other systems are also integrated into it. These may include a flight sensor, a locking remote control, calculation of flight options, and an autopilot. Some munitions also use jammers designed to reduce resistance to a nuclear bomb.

The consequences of using such a bomb

The “ideal” consequences of the use of nuclear weapons were already recorded when the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima. The charge exploded at an altitude of 200 meters, which caused a strong shock wave. Coal-fired stoves were knocked over in many homes, causing fires even outside the affected area.

The flash of light was followed by a heat stroke that lasted a matter of seconds. However, its power was enough to melt tiles and quartz within a radius of 4 km, as well as spray telegraph poles.

The heat wave was followed by a shock wave. The wind speed reached 800 km/h, its gust destroyed almost all buildings in the city. Of the 76 thousand buildings, about 6 thousand partially survived, the rest were completely destroyed.

The heat wave, as well as rising steam and ash, caused heavy condensation in the atmosphere. A few minutes later it began to rain with drops of ash black. Contact with the skin caused severe incurable burns.

People who were within 800 meters of the epicenter of the explosion were burned to dust. Those who remained were exposed to radiation and radiation sickness. Its symptoms were weakness, nausea, vomiting, and fever. There was a sharp decrease in the number of white cells in the blood.

In seconds, about 70 thousand people were killed. The same number subsequently died from their wounds and burns.

Three days later, another bomb was dropped on Nagasaki with similar consequences.

Stockpiles of nuclear weapons in the world

The main stockpiles of nuclear weapons are concentrated in Russia and the United States. In addition to them, the following countries have atomic bombs:

• Great Britain - since 1952;
• France - since 1960;
• China - since 1964;
• India - since 1974;
• Pakistan - since 1998;
• DPRK - since 2008.

Israel also possesses nuclear weapons, although there has been no official confirmation from the country's leadership.

American Robert Oppenheimer and Soviet scientist Igor Kurchatov are officially recognized as the fathers of the atomic bomb. But in parallel, deadly weapons were also being developed in other countries (Italy, Denmark, Hungary), so the discovery rightfully belongs to everyone.

The first to tackle this issue were German physicists Fritz Strassmann and Otto Hahn, who in December 1938 were the first to artificially split the atomic nucleus of uranium. And six months later, the first reactor was already being built at the Kummersdorf test site near Berlin and uranium ore was urgently purchased from the Congo.

“Uranium Project” - the Germans start and lose

In September 1939, the “Uranium Project” was classified. 22 reputable research centers were invited to participate in the program, and the research was supervised by Minister of Armaments Albert Speer. The construction of an installation for separating isotopes and the production of uranium to extract the isotope from it that supports the chain reaction was entrusted to the IG Farbenindustry concern.

For two years, a group of the venerable scientist Heisenberg studied the possibility of creating a reactor with heavy water. A potential explosive (uranium-235 isotope) could be isolated from uranium ore.

But an inhibitor is needed to slow down the reaction - graphite or heavy water. Choosing the latter option created an insurmountable problem.

The only plant for the production of heavy water, which was located in Norway, was disabled by local resistance fighters after the occupation, and small reserves of valuable raw materials were exported to France.

The rapid implementation of the nuclear program was also hindered by the explosion of an experimental nuclear reactor in Leipzig.

Hitler supported the uranium project as long as he hoped to obtain a super-powerful weapon that could influence the outcome of the war he started. After government funding was cut, the work programs continued for some time.

In 1944, Heisenberg managed to create cast uranium plates, and a special bunker was built for the reactor plant in Berlin.

It was planned to complete the experiment to achieve a chain reaction in January 1945, but a month later the equipment was urgently transported to the Swiss border, where it was deployed only a month later. The nuclear reactor contained 664 cubes of uranium weighing 1525 kg. It was surrounded by a graphite neutron reflector weighing 10 tons, and one and a half tons of heavy water were additionally loaded into the core.

On March 23, the reactor finally started working, but the report to Berlin was premature: the reactor did not reach a critical point, and the chain reaction did not occur. Additional calculations showed that the mass of uranium must be increased by at least 750 kg, proportionally adding the amount of heavy water.

But supplies of strategic raw materials were at their limit, as was the fate of the Third Reich. On April 23, the Americans entered the village of Haigerloch, where the tests were carried out. The military dismantled the reactor and transported it to the United States.

The first atomic bombs in the USA

A little later, the Germans began developing the atomic bomb in the USA and Great Britain. It all started with a letter from Albert Einstein and his co-authors, emigrant physicists, sent in September 1939 to US President Franklin Roosevelt.

The appeal emphasized that Nazi Germany was close to creating an atomic bomb.

Stalin first learned about work on nuclear weapons (both allied and adversary) from intelligence officers in 1943. They immediately decided to create a similar project in the USSR. Instructions were issued not only to scientists, but also to intelligence services, for which obtaining any information about nuclear secrets became a major task.

The invaluable information about the developments of American scientists that Soviet intelligence officers were able to obtain significantly advanced the domestic nuclear project. It helped our scientists avoid ineffective search paths and significantly speed up the time frame for achieving the final goal.

Serov Ivan Aleksandrovich - head of the bomb creation operation

Of course, the Soviet government could not ignore the successes of German nuclear physicists. After the war, a group of Soviet physicists, future academicians, were sent to Germany in the uniform of colonels of the Soviet army.

Ivan Serov, the first deputy people's commissar of internal affairs, was appointed head of the operation, this allowed scientists to open any doors.

In addition to their German colleagues, they found reserves of uranium metal. This, according to Kurchatov, shortened the development time of the Soviet bomb by at least a year. More than one ton of uranium and leading nuclear specialists were taken out of Germany by the American military.

Not only chemists and physicists were sent to the USSR, but also qualified labor - mechanics, electricians, glassblowers. Some of the employees were found in prison camps. In total, about 1,000 German specialists worked on the Soviet nuclear project.

German scientists and laboratories on the territory of the USSR in the post-war years

A uranium centrifuge and other equipment, as well as documents and reagents from the von Ardenne laboratory and the Kaiser Institute of Physics were transported from Berlin. As part of the program, laboratories “A”, “B”, “C”, “D” were created, headed by German scientists.

The head of Laboratory “A” was Baron Manfred von Ardenne, who developed a method for gas diffusion purification and separation of uranium isotopes in a centrifuge.

For the creation of such a centrifuge (only on an industrial scale) in 1947 he received the Stalin Prize. At that time, the laboratory was located in Moscow, on the site of the famous Kurchatov Institute. Each German scientist’s team included 5-6 Soviet specialists.

Later, laboratory “A” was taken to Sukhumi, where a physical and technical institute was created on its basis. In 1953, Baron von Ardenne became a Stalin laureate for the second time.

Laboratory B, which conducted experiments in the field of radiation chemistry in the Urals, was headed by Nikolaus Riehl, a key figure in the project. There, in Snezhinsk, the talented Russian geneticist Timofeev-Resovsky, with whom he had been friends back in Germany, worked with him. The successful test of the atomic bomb brought Riehl the star of Hero of Socialist Labor and the Stalin Prize.

Research at Laboratory B in Obninsk was led by Professor Rudolf Pose, a pioneer in the field of nuclear testing. His team managed to create fast neutron reactors, the first nuclear power plant in the USSR, and projects for reactors for submarines.

On the basis of the laboratory, the Physics and Energy Institute named after A.I. was later created. Leypunsky. Until 1957, the professor worked in Sukhumi, then in Dubna, at the Joint Institute of Nuclear Technologies.

Laboratory “G”, located in the Sukhumi sanatorium “Agudzery”, was headed by Gustav Hertz. The nephew of the famous 19th century scientist gained fame after a series of experiments that confirmed the ideas of quantum mechanics and the theory of Niels Bohr.

The results of his productive work in Sukhumi were used to create an industrial installation in Novouralsk, where in 1949 the first Soviet bomb RDS-1 was filled.

The uranium bomb that the Americans dropped on Hiroshima was a cannon type. When creating the RDS-1, domestic nuclear physicists were guided by the Fat Boy - the “Nagasaki bomb”, made of plutonium according to the implosive principle.

In 1951, Hertz was awarded the Stalin Prize for his fruitful work.

German engineers and scientists lived in comfortable houses; they brought their families, furniture, paintings from Germany, they were provided with decent salaries and special food. Did they have the status of prisoners? According to Academician A.P. Aleksandrov, an active participant in the project, they were all prisoners in such conditions.

Having received permission to return to their homeland, the German specialists signed a non-disclosure agreement about their participation in the Soviet nuclear project for 25 years. In the GDR they continued to work in their specialty. Baron von Ardenne was a two-time winner of the German National Prize.

The professor headed the Physics Institute in Dresden, which was created under the auspices of the Scientific Council for the Peaceful Applications of Atomic Energy. The Scientific Council was headed by Gustav Hertz, who received the National Prize of the GDR for his three-volume textbook on atomic physics. Here, in Dresden, at the Technical University, Professor Rudolf Pose also worked.

The participation of German specialists in the Soviet atomic project, as well as the achievements of Soviet intelligence, do not diminish the merits of Soviet scientists who, with their heroic work, created domestic atomic weapons. And yet, without the contribution of each participant in the project, the creation of the nuclear industry and the nuclear bomb would have taken an indefinite period.

Over the course of two years, Heisenberg's group carried out the research necessary to create a nuclear reactor using uranium and heavy water. It was confirmed that only one of the isotopes, namely uranium-235, contained in very small concentrations in ordinary uranium ore, can serve as an explosive. The first problem was how to isolate it from there. The starting point of the bomb program was a nuclear reactor, which required graphite or heavy water as a reaction moderator. German physicists chose water, thereby creating a serious problem for themselves. After the occupation of Norway, the world's only heavy water production plant at that time passed into the hands of the Nazis. But there, at the beginning of the war, the supply of the product needed by physicists was only tens of kilograms, and even they did not go to the Germans - the French stole valuable products literally from under the noses of the Nazis. And in February 1943, British commandos sent to Norway, with the help of local resistance fighters, put the plant out of commission. The implementation of Germany's nuclear program was under threat. The misfortunes of the Germans did not end there: an experimental nuclear reactor exploded in Leipzig. The uranium project was supported by Hitler only as long as there was hope of obtaining super-powerful weapons before the end of the war he started. Heisenberg was invited by Speer and asked directly: “When can we expect the creation of a bomb capable of being suspended from a bomber?” The scientist was honest: “I believe it will take several years of hard work, in any case, the bomb will not be able to influence the outcome of the current war.” The German leadership rationally considered that there was no point in forcing events. Let the scientists work calmly - you'll see they'll be in time for the next war. As a result, Hitler decided to concentrate scientific, production and financial resources only on projects that would give the fastest return in the creation of new types of weapons. Government funding for the uranium project was curtailed. Nevertheless, the work of scientists continued.

Manfred von Ardenne, who developed a method for gas diffusion purification and separation of uranium isotopes in a centrifuge.

In 1944, Heisenberg received cast uranium plates for a large reactor plant, for which a special bunker was already being built in Berlin. The last experiment to achieve a chain reaction was scheduled for January 1945, but on January 31 all the equipment was hastily dismantled and sent from Berlin to the village of Haigerloch near the Swiss border, where it was deployed only at the end of February. The reactor contained 664 cubes of uranium with a total weight of 1525 kg, surrounded by a graphite moderator-neutron reflector weighing 10 tons. In March 1945, an additional 1.5 tons of heavy water was poured into the core. On March 23, Berlin was reported that the reactor was operational. But the joy was premature - the reactor did not reach the critical point, the chain reaction did not start. After recalculations, it turned out that the amount of uranium must be increased by at least 750 kg, proportionally increasing the mass of heavy water. But there were no more reserves of either one or the other. The end of the Third Reich was inexorably approaching. On April 23, American troops entered Haigerloch. The reactor was dismantled and transported to the USA.

Meanwhile overseas

In parallel with the Germans (with only a slight lag), the development of atomic weapons began in England and the USA. They began with a letter sent in September 1939 by Albert Einstein to US President Franklin Roosevelt. The initiators of the letter and the authors of most of the text were physicists-emigrants from Hungary Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller. The letter drew the president's attention to the fact that Nazi Germany was conducting active research, as a result of which it might soon acquire an atomic bomb.

In 1933, German communist Klaus Fuchs fled to England. Having received a degree in physics from the University of Bristol, he continued to work. In 1941, Fuchs reported his participation in atomic research to Soviet intelligence agent Jürgen Kuchinsky, who informed the Soviet ambassador Ivan Maisky. He instructed the military attaché to urgently establish contact with Fuchs, who was going to be transported to the United States as part of a group of scientists. Fuchs agreed to work for Soviet intelligence. Many Soviet illegal intelligence officers were involved in working with him: the Zarubins, Eitingon, Vasilevsky, Semenov and others. As a result of their active work, already in January 1945 the USSR had a description of the design of the first atomic bomb. At the same time, the Soviet station in the United States reported that the Americans would need at least one year, but no more than five years, to create a significant arsenal of atomic weapons. The report also said that the first two bombs could be detonated within a few months. Pictured is Operation Crossroads, a series of atomic bomb tests conducted by the United States at Bikini Atoll in the summer of 1946. The goal was to test the effect of atomic weapons on ships.

In the USSR, the first information about the work carried out by both the allies and the enemy was reported to Stalin by intelligence back in 1943. A decision was immediately made to launch similar work in the Union. Thus began the Soviet atomic project. Not only scientists received assignments, but also intelligence officers, for whom the extraction of nuclear secrets became a top priority.

The most valuable information about the work on the atomic bomb in the United States, obtained by intelligence, greatly helped the advancement of the Soviet nuclear project. The scientists participating in it were able to avoid dead-end search paths, thereby significantly accelerating the achievement of the final goal.

Experience of recent enemies and allies

Naturally, the Soviet leadership could not remain indifferent to German atomic developments. At the end of the war, a group of Soviet physicists was sent to Germany, among whom were future academicians Artsimovich, Kikoin, Khariton, Shchelkin. Everyone was camouflaged in the uniform of Red Army colonels. The operation was led by First Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Ivan Serov, which opened any doors. In addition to the necessary German scientists, the “colonels” found tons of uranium metal, which, according to Kurchatov, shortened the work on the Soviet bomb by at least a year. The Americans also removed a lot of uranium from Germany, taking along the specialists who worked on the project. And in the USSR, in addition to physicists and chemists, they sent mechanics, electrical engineers, and glassblowers. Some were found in prisoner of war camps. For example, Max Steinbeck, the future Soviet academician and vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR, was taken away when, at the whim of the camp commander, he was making a sundial. In total, at least 1,000 German specialists worked on the nuclear project in the USSR. The von Ardenne laboratory with a uranium centrifuge, equipment from the Kaiser Institute of Physics, documentation, and reagents were completely removed from Berlin. As part of the atomic project, laboratories “A”, “B”, “C” and “D” were created, the scientific directors of which were scientists who arrived from Germany.

K.A. Petrzhak and G. N. Flerov In 1940, in the laboratory of Igor Kurchatov, two young physicists discovered a new, very unique type of radioactive decay of atomic nuclei - spontaneous fission.

Laboratory “A” was led by Baron Manfred von Ardenne, a talented physicist who developed a method of gas diffusion purification and separation of uranium isotopes in a centrifuge. At first, his laboratory was located on Oktyabrsky Pole in Moscow. Each German specialist was assigned five or six Soviet engineers. Later the laboratory moved to Sukhumi, and over time the famous Kurchatov Institute grew up on Oktyabrsky Field. In Sukhumi, on the basis of the von Ardenne laboratory, the Sukhumi Institute of Physics and Technology was formed. In 1947, Ardenne was awarded the Stalin Prize for creating a centrifuge for purifying uranium isotopes on an industrial scale. Six years later, Ardenne became a two-time Stalinist laureate. He lived with his wife in a comfortable mansion, his wife played music on a piano brought from Germany. Other German specialists were not offended either: they came with their families, brought with them furniture, books, paintings, and were provided with good salaries and food. Were they prisoners? Academician A.P. Aleksandrov, himself an active participant in the atomic project, noted: “Of course, the German specialists were prisoners, but we ourselves were prisoners.”

Nikolaus Riehl, a native of St. Petersburg who moved to Germany in the 1920s, became the head of Laboratory B, which conducted research in the field of radiation chemistry and biology in the Urals (now the city of Snezhinsk). Here, Riehl worked with his old friend from Germany, the outstanding Russian biologist-geneticist Timofeev-Resovsky (“Bison” based on the novel by D. Granin).

In December 1938, German physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann were the first in the world to artificially split the nucleus of a uranium atom.

Having received recognition in the USSR as a researcher and talented organizer, able to find effective solutions to complex problems, Dr. Riehl became one of the key figures in the Soviet atomic project. After successfully testing a Soviet bomb, he became a Hero of Socialist Labor and a Stalin Prize laureate.

The work of Laboratory "B", organized in Obninsk, was headed by Professor Rudolf Pose, one of the pioneers in the field of nuclear research. Under his leadership, fast neutron reactors were created, the first nuclear power plant in the Union, and the design of reactors for submarines began. The facility in Obninsk became the basis for the organization of the Physics and Energy Institute named after A.I. Leypunsky. Pose worked until 1957 in Sukhumi, then at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna.

On August 29, 1949, exactly 70 years ago, the first test of the Soviet atomic bomb was carried out. Nuclear power has become a real shield for our country, and its possession is still one of the key arguments in the confrontation with hostile powers.

In the current situation, it was impossible to delay testing Soviet nuclear weapons. Relations between yesterday's allies in the anti-Hitler and anti-Japanese coalition began to rapidly deteriorate immediately after the end of World War II. It was clear that a new phase of confrontation was opening - the capitalist West against the Soviet Union and the countries of the socialist camp. And there was no doubt that the United States would use nuclear weapons against the USSR if the latter did not have the opportunity to launch a preventive or retaliatory strike.

By the summer of 1949, all major work on the development of the Soviet atomic bomb, called RDS-1, was completed. The abbreviation RDS stood for “special jet engine.” Naturally, after the creation of the RDS-1, it was necessary to test a new weapon.

A little should be said about those people without whom the creation of a nuclear bomb would have been impossible. First of all, this is the legendary scientist - physicist Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov. At the time of the tests he was 46 years old. By today's standards, this is a fairly young scientist, but in those years Kurchatov was a luminary of Soviet nuclear physics, the true “founding father” of the Soviet bomb. He was the founder and first director of the USSR Institute of Atomic Energy.

Since 1946, 45-year-old Soviet physicist Yuli Borisovich Khariton has headed Design Bureau-11 (Arzamas-16) in Sarov. In fact, it was he who was responsible for the atomic project, to which the best physicists of the Soviet Union were involved. By decision of the Soviet leadership, Yuliy Borisovich Khariton was also appointed responsible for testing the RDS-1.

The state commission for testing was headed by Mikhail Georgievich Pervukhin, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR and Minister of the Chemical Industry of the USSR. Pervukhin, like Khariton, was 45 years old.

A typical representative of Stalin's galaxy of people's commissars, Pervukhin managed to take part in the Civil War in his youth, joined the Komsomol and the party, received a higher engineering education and worked in the energy sector, where he very quickly made a dizzying career. At the age of 33, he became deputy people's commissar of heavy industry Lazar Kaganovich, at the age of 34 he headed the People's Commissariat of Power Plants and Electrical Industry, and at the age of 35 he became deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

Pervukhin was well versed in technical issues, enjoyed the trust of Stalin himself and his inner circle, which is why it was he who was entrusted with heading the State Commission for Testing Nuclear Weapons. It was decided to carry out the tests themselves at the Semipalatinsk test site in the Kazakh SSR.

Semipalatinsk test site

160 kilometers from Semipalatinsk, which at the time of the events described was the regional center of the Semipalatinsk region, a special testing ground was equipped for testing new weapons. The location turned out to be extremely successful - the terrain made it possible to carry out nuclear explosions underground, including in adits and wells. Before the opening of the test site, the Chinese consulate was withdrawn from Semipalatinsk.

On August 21, 1947, the Council of Ministers of the USSR transferred the training ground to the Ministry of the Armed Forces of the USSR (as the Ministry of Defense was then called) and it received the official name “Training Range No. 2” (military unit 52605). The first head of the Semipalatinsk training ground was appointed Lieutenant General of Artillery Pyotr Mikhailovich Rozhanovich, a participant in the Great Patriotic War, a combat officer who commanded an artillery division and corps. However, in 1948, 42-year-old Rozhanovich died.

Preparations at the Semipalatinsk test site for the upcoming atomic bomb tests were very thorough. The experimental field was a circle with a radius of 10 kilometers, which was divided into 14 sectors, including 2 fortification and physical sectors, a civil structures sector, a sector of branches of the Armed Forces and branches of the military, and a biological sector with animals.

The Soviet leadership was interested in what the consequences of a nuclear explosion would be for infrastructure and military equipment. Therefore, sections of metro tunnels and runways were built in the testing area. Separate samples of tanks, self-propelled artillery mounts, rocket launchers, and aircraft were also placed at the test site. A special metal structure was placed in the center of the experimental field - a tower 37.5 meters high, on which the RDS-1 bomb was mounted.

The power of RDS-1 was about 22 kilotons. As a result of the explosion, the 37-meter tower on which the bomb was attached was completely destroyed, and in its place a crater 1.5 meters deep and 3 meters in diameter was formed. A reinforced concrete building with an overhead crane located 25 meters from the tower was partially destroyed.

The T-34 tank and artillery pieces located within a radius of 500-550 meters from the center of the explosion received light damage. Aircraft located at a distance of up to 1.5 kilometers were also damaged. All 10 cars, located at a distance of a kilometer from the center, burned down.

Two residential three-story buildings built at a distance of 800 meters were completely destroyed. All log and panel houses of urban type, specially erected within a radius of 5 kilometers, were destroyed.

The explosion threw back and distorted a railway bridge built at a distance of a kilometer, and a highway bridge at a distance of one and a half kilometers. Cars and cars placed on bridges were thrown 50-80 meters from the installation site. The animals were carried away by the blast wave. In general, out of 1538 experimental animals, 345 animals died.

Start of production of atomic bombs

By the spring of 1951, the Soviet Union had 15 RDS-1 plutonium nuclear bombs. They were placed on the territory of plant No. 550 in Sarov in a special reinforced concrete storage facility. The bombs were stored in a disassembled state, and the territory of the plant itself was under heavy security, which was carried out by military units of the USSR Ministry of State Security.

If necessary, engineering and technical personnel had to assemble bombs, transport them to the place of combat use, and bring them to the highest level of combat readiness. The preparation of bombs for combat use was entrusted to the assembly brigade operating as part of KB-11, and the tasks of bombing the RDS-1 were to be carried out by bomber pilots of the Air Force of the Soviet Army.

The work of Soviet designers was rewarded as they deserved. On October 29, 1949, the title of Hero of Socialist Labor was received by Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov and Yuliy Borisovich Khariton. Mikhail Georgievich Pervukhin, who led the State Commission at the Semipalatinsk test site, also became a Hero of Socialist Labor.

Interestingly, Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria, whose contribution to organizing the creation of nuclear weapons is not disputed even by his fierce haters, did not receive a second Gold Star - he became a Hero of Socialist Labor six years earlier, in 1943.

Consequences of an atomic bomb test

However, the Soviet Union officially announced the appearance of an atomic bomb only six months after the first test of the RDS-1 at the Semipalatinsk test site. On March 8, 1950, Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, Marshal of the Soviet Union Kliment Efremovich Voroshilov, officially announced that the USSR had nuclear weapons.

For the USSR, testing the atomic bomb was truly a real breakthrough. And the credit for this breakthrough belongs to both physicists, design engineers, technical personnel, as well as the political and military leadership of the USSR, security officials, and military personnel who created all the necessary conditions for the appearance of the atomic bomb - from logistical and technical to information and organizational.

The appearance of the Soviet Union's nuclear weapons was greeted with horror in the West. In Washington, the atomic bomb was considered one of the main trump cards in the dialogue with the Soviet state, but after the USSR acquired its own weapons of mass destruction, a balance of sides was established. There is no doubt that the world that we observed in the second half of the 20th century, the beginning of the 21st century, was able to exist in its form precisely because the Soviet Union established this balance in the field of nuclear weapons.

On August 29, 1949, the Soviet Union tested the first atomic bomb, but the world learned about it only a month later. Developments on the personal orders of Joseph Stalin were carried out at an accelerated pace; the country, weakened by the war, had no resources. Read more about the Soviet nuclear project in the material of MIR 24 TV channel correspondent Maxim Krasotkin.

The shock wave of information echo from the tests of the first atomic bomb of the USSR reached the world community a month later. US President Harry Truman stated this in his address to the nation on September 23. The bomb itself was tested in August, on the 29th. The Soviet Union maintained intrigue all this time.

The TASS report, published in the Pravda newspaper on September 25, 1949, was without any details. This is the answer to the overseas allies who recorded the tests. It is written: yes, there was some kind of explosion, but there are many of them in the Soviet Union, construction is underway. And in general: the secret of the atomic bomb has not been a secret for a long time, and the USSR mastered it already in 1947. Maybe that’s why the message was printed only on the second page, by the way, between a note about the decade of Tajik literature in Moscow and a condemnation of someone’s feuilleton.

The creation of atomic weapons for the USSR was a justified step after the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The USA prepared the same for the cities of the USSR, mapping the main industrial centers. But even before the war, scientists all over the world knew that if a certain amount of radioactive substance was collected in one place, an instantaneous release of heat would occur - an explosion. But the States were not weakened by the war, so Soviet scientists began work later. Intelligence helped them. The head of the department, Sergei Naryshkin, handed over the declassified documents to the SVR.

“70 years ago, the first Soviet atomic bomb exploded at the Semipalatinsk test site. This served as a clear warning for our then-recent allies, the United States, against hasty attempts to replay the results of World War II and plunge the world into the abyss of another global conflict,” the head of the intelligence service noted.

Soviet intelligence officers managed to recruit several American scientists and intelligence officers; they would later be called the “Cambridge Five.” Kim Philby, Donald Maclean, Anthony Blunt, Guy Bergers and John Cancross create destructive weapons, but even then they understood that only one state should not have a monopoly on them.

“They were leftists.” The ideas of socialism and communism were important to them; they were ideological people. They worked not for money (although, of course, they received money), but for an idea,” said scientific director of the State Archive Sergei Mironenko.

It was decided to use plutonium as a charge for the bomb, but it is not found anywhere in nature. It is a by-product of irradiation of uranium. At that time, uranium was not mined on an industrial scale in the USSR. Therefore, new mines had to be opened. Deposits of the valuable substance ended up in the Central Asian republics: Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

“They carried this uranium in bags on donkeys. They mined it, brought it to factories, and processed it there,” said Nikolai Kuharkin, adviser to the president of the Kurchatov Institute.

To separate plutonium from uranium, a reactor was needed. They decided to build it then on the outskirts of Moscow. The place where the country’s nuclear shield was created did not differ in appearance from the village of Shchukino, where “laboratory number two” was then located - the future Kurchatov Institute. So you can’t see it from a reconnaissance plane. The same one-story houses, and the entrance to the reactor itself was made more like a cellar in which potatoes and homemade preparations are stored.

Now the first reactor in Eurasia, F-1 (the letter “F” means physical) has been shut down forever. But it was on it that Igor Kurchatov obtained the first samples of plutonium. Moreover, these were micrograms, but the very principle of its extraction was being worked out in Moscow.

During experiments to produce plutonium, Kurchatov took non-standard safety measures. An ax was placed in a prominent place, which in case of an emergency was supposed to cut the ropes that held the reactor's emergency protection rods. The remote control of the 1940s was assembled literally on the knee - there was no talk of any automation. All processes were started manually using winches. At the same time, it was necessary to experimentally understand how a nuclear reactor generally works. To gain insight, four more samples were collected one after another.

To create the first Soviet nuclear reactor, 420 tons of pure graphite were required. The slightest impurities in it would simply absorb neutrons and prevent a chain reaction from starting. Then the scientists had to work not only with their heads, but also with their hands: they carried and laid graphite bricks on themselves. Kurchatov himself also took part in the rigging work.

A team of scientists gathered throughout the country. Many fought back then. For example, Igor Kurchatov was in the navy and came up with a way to combat magnetic mines, which is still used today. Then the leadership of the atomic project passed from Vyacheslav Molotov to Lavrentiy Beria. Here the head of the NKVD showed the full power of the administrative apparatus. He then pulled many scientists out of prison and established cooperation between different departments - as they would say now, an effective manager.

“We have the archives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs-NKVD, and there are many resolutions of Beria. Beria's resolutions are different from all resolutions - these are specific instructions. Beria never wrote non-binding resolutions: “I ask you to consider and report,” Mironenko notes.

Already in those years, Soviet scientists were preoccupied with other problems: what would happen if, in search of plutonium, the reactor was accelerated to full power, would it explode? It turned out that he would just stop. Even then, Soviet physicists were studying how the atom affects all living things.

“Biological experiments began immediately, because it was not clear how this would affect humans. Of course, studies were carried out on dogs, rabbits, and mice. Right here, on the lid of this reactor, there were cells in which animals were irradiated,” said Nikolai Kuharkin, adviser to the president of the Kurchatov Institute.

The secrecy suited the work. Instead of the words “atom”, “reactor”, “uranium” in the documents there was usually a space where physicists wrote the necessary words by hand. Even entire teams could not understand that they were building weapons of the future.

“A turner who turned some metal part in Siberia had no idea what he was doing. A million people participated in the project and did not know about it. Even the soldier who stood in the cordon had no idea what was happening at the test site,” says Kairat Kydyrzhanov, director of the Institute of Nuclear Physics of Kazakhstan.

At the same time, studying American drawings obtained by intelligence, physicists understood that in the USSR science had advanced much further. For example, the Soviet Union had the purest plutonium, which made the bomb more powerful - the neutrons ran faster.

“Experiments are underway on the average lifetime of a neutron, and our results are a little longer than the Americans. And Kurchatov, stroking his beard, said: obviously, the Soviet neutron is stronger,” recalls Father Alexander Ilyashenko, rector of the Church of the All-Merciful Savior.

Priest Alexander Ilyashenko worked at the Kurchatov Institute for almost 30 years. He made reactors for submarines. In the early 2000s, after the laws of physics, he began to study the Law of God.

“One does not interfere with the other at all. Moreover, it helps because the Apostle Paul said that faith comes from knowledge, and knowledge comes from listening to the word of God,” the priest recalled.

At the same time, Father Alexander says that the physicists of the first wave were distinguished from the rest by their sense of humor and ingenuity. Take, for example, the first control panel for detonating an atomic bomb. It seems like I pressed a button and that’s it, but no. Soviet scientists already understood the responsibility then.

“To prevent someone from accidentally touching the handle that activates the atomic bomb, it was equipped with protection. One line of defense, the second line of defense, and the third is the barn lock that the scientists hung,” said the scientific director of the State Archive.

At the test site in Semipalatinsk, where the tests were carried out, the bomb did not fall from the plane. The filling, that is, the charge, was hung on a tower and detonated. We saw that the system was working, but the projectile body took a long time to prepare. More than a hundred variants of the bomb shell were blown in wind tunnels. It should only fall vertically.

Sharp tongues were said about the Soviet atomic bomb: it looks the enemy in the eye. Indeed, the round holes are very reminiscent of them. Inside, under transparent plexiglass, there are antennas for an altimeter connected to a fuse, which was supposed to activate the charge at a certain height. If it didn't work, the atmospheric pressure sensors would come into play. They also measure height, but according to a different principle. If they had also failed, then when they hit the ground, the usual red button would have been pressed.

The Soviet bomb fell on the nuclear scale, thereby maintaining the balance of power. The US plan to nuclear bomb the 20 largest cities of the Soviet Union was archived - as it turned out, forever.

70 years later, history repeats itself. The US withdrawal from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty essentially kicks off a new arms race. This danger is being talked about more and more loudly in the Commonwealth countries. This week, the first president of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev, said: “The planet is once again at a dangerous point.” It was he who closed the Semipalatinsk test site in 1991, and in 1996 initiated the signing of the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty.

“If the Third World War occurs with the use of means of mass destruction, it could be the last for our civilization. Our peoples have long had a strong demand for a conflict-free existence, life without fear today and faith in tomorrow, the future of our children and grandchildren,” the Elbasy is confident.

Russian President Vladimir Putin sent letters to the capitals of several dozen countries. He proposes to immediately introduce a moratorium on the deployment of intermediate- and shorter-range missiles. This became known this week. As the press secretary of the Russian president, Dmitry Peskov, clarified, Putin’s message does not imply reply letters. However, it has not yet met with understanding. The message was received by the leaders of Germany, France, Spain, the Czech Republic, Turkey, as well as the leadership of the European Union and NATO. Everywhere they said that they were studying the Kremlin’s proposal, except for the headquarters of the North Atlantic Alliance. They still accuse Moscow of violating the treaty. But as Peskov added, Russia continues to “consistently and convincingly” prove that it is right.

“There is a real threat of the appearance of such missiles with a flight time of several minutes in various regions of the world, including in Europe. This will inevitably entail a further increase in tension, a new round of political and military confrontation, and an increased risk of a nuclear apocalypse. Therefore, we advocate urgent joint action to preserve the achievements of the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty in our common home, on the European continent,” the minister said.