Who detonated the atomic bomb. Creation of the Soviet atomic bomb

08.02.202327.05.2017

A democratic form of government 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). Academician Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov supervised the project. The period of development of atomic weapons in the USSR lasted from 1942, and ended with a test 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 to Stalin information that a meeting of physicists was being held in the United States, which was devoted to the development of nuclear weapons. Soviet scientists of the 1930s also worked on the study of the atom, the most famous was the splitting of the atom by scientists from Kharkov, led by L. Landau. However, it did not reach the real use in armament. In addition to the United States, Nazi Germany worked on this. At the end of 1941, the United States began its atomic project. Stalin found out 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 ended up in 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 a new weapon in battle: 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 summoned Stalin and promised to fulfill any requirements of the scientist, if only the process went as quickly as possible. Moreover, a state committee was created under the Council of People's Commissars, which oversaw the Soviet nuclear project. It was headed by L. Beria.

Development has moved to three centers:

Design Bureau of the Kirov Plant, working on the creation of special equipment.
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 established. It was a secret object 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 the American Pacific Air Force was able to record a sharp increase in radiation levels, which was evidence of testing a new weapon. Already in September 1949, G. Truman announced the presence of an atomic bomb in the USSR. Officially, the USSR admitted to having these weapons only in 1950.

There are several main consequences of the successful development of atomic weapons by Soviet scientists:

The loss of the US status of a single state with nuclear weapons. This not only equalized the USSR with the United States in terms of military power, but also forced the latter to think through each of their military steps, since now it was necessary 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 United States and the USSR were equalized in the presence of atomic weapons, the race for their number began. States spent huge finances to outperform the competitor. Moreover, attempts began to create even more powerful weapons.
These events served as the start of the nuclear race. Many countries have begun to invest resources to add to the list of nuclear states and ensure their own security.

In the USA and the USSR, work began simultaneously on atomic bomb projects. In 1942, in August, the secret Laboratory No. 2 began to operate in one of the buildings located in the courtyard of Kazan University. Igor Kurchatov, the Russian "father" of the atomic bomb, became the head of this facility. At the same time in August, not far from Santa Fe, New Mexico, in the building of the former local school, the Metallurgical Laboratory, also secret, began to operate. It was led by Robert Oppenheimer, the "father" of the atomic bomb from America.

It took a total of three years to complete the task. The first US was blown up at the test site in July 1945. Two more were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August. It took seven years for the birth of the atomic bomb in the USSR. The first explosion took place in 1949.

Igor Kurchatov: short biography

The "father" of the atomic bomb in the USSR was born in 1903, on January 12. This event took place in the Ufa province, in today's city of Sim. Kurchatov is considered one of the founders of peaceful purposes.

He graduated with honors from the Simferopol Men's Gymnasium, as well as a craft school. Kurchatov in 1920 entered the Taurida University, in the department of physics and mathematics. After 3 years, he successfully graduated from this university ahead of schedule. The "father" of the atomic bomb in 1930 began working at the Physico-Technical Institute of Leningrad, where he headed the physics department.

The era before Kurchatov

Back in the 1930s, work related to atomic energy began in the USSR. Chemists and physicists from various scientific centers, as well as specialists from other states, took part in all-Union conferences organized by the USSR Academy of Sciences.

Radium samples were obtained in 1932. And in 1939 the chain reaction of fission of heavy atoms was calculated. The year 1940 became a landmark in the nuclear field: the design of the atomic bomb was created, and methods for the production of uranium-235 were also proposed. Conventional explosives were first proposed to be used as a fuse to initiate a chain reaction. Also in 1940, Kurchatov presented his report on the fission of heavy nuclei.

Research during the Great Patriotic War

After the Germans attacked the USSR in 1941, nuclear research was suspended. The main Leningrad and Moscow institutes that dealt with the problems of nuclear physics were urgently evacuated.

The head of strategic intelligence, Beria, knew that Western physicists considered atomic weapons an achievable reality. According to historical data, back in September 1939, incognito Robert Oppenheimer, the head of work on the creation of an atomic bomb in America, came to the USSR. The Soviet leadership could have learned about the possibility of obtaining these weapons from the information provided by this "father" of the atomic bomb.

In 1941, intelligence data from the UK and the USA began to arrive in the USSR. According to this information, intensive work has been launched in the West, the purpose of which is the creation of nuclear weapons.

In the spring of 1943, Laboratory No. 2 was established to produce the first atomic bomb in the USSR. The question arose as to whom to entrust the leadership of it. The list of candidates initially included about 50 names. Beria, however, stopped his choice on Kurchatov. He was called in October 1943 to the bride in Moscow. Today, the scientific center that grew out of this laboratory bears his name - "Kurchatov Institute".

In 1946, on April 9, a decree was issued on the creation of a design bureau at Laboratory No. 2. It was only at the beginning of 1947 that the first production buildings were ready, which were located in the zone of the Mordovian Reserve. Some of the laboratories were located in monastic buildings.

RDS-1, the first Russian atomic bomb

They called the Soviet prototype RDS-1, which, according to one version, meant special. "After a while, this abbreviation began to be deciphered a little differently -" Stalin's Jet Engine ". In documents to ensure secrecy, the Soviet bomb was called "rocket engine."

It was a device whose power was 22 kilotons. The development of atomic weapons was carried out in the USSR, but the need to catch up with the United States, which had gone ahead during the war, forced domestic science to use data obtained by intelligence. The basis of the first Russian atomic bomb was taken "Fat Man", developed by the Americans (pictured below).

It was on August 9, 1945 that the United States dropped it on Nagasaki. "Fat Man" worked on the decay of plutonium-239. The detonation scheme was implosive: the charges exploded along the perimeter of the fissile material and created an explosive wave that "compressed" the substance in the center and caused a chain reaction. This scheme was subsequently recognized as ineffective.

The Soviet RDS-1 was made in the form of a large diameter and mass of a free-falling bomb. Plutonium was used to make an explosive atomic device. Electrical equipment, as well as the RDS-1 ballistic body, were domestically developed. The bomb consisted of a ballistic body, a nuclear charge, an explosive device, as well as equipment for automatic charge detonation systems.

Uranium deficiency

Soviet physics, taking the plutonium bomb of the Americans as a basis, faced a problem that had to be solved in the shortest possible time: the production of plutonium at the time of development had not yet begun in the USSR. Therefore, captured uranium was originally used. However, the reactor required at least 150 tons of this substance. In 1945, mines in East Germany and Czechoslovakia resumed their work. Uranium deposits in the Chita region, Kolyma, Kazakhstan, Central Asia, the North Caucasus and Ukraine were found in 1946.

In the Urals, near the city of Kyshtym (not far from Chelyabinsk), they began to build "Mayak" - a radiochemical plant, and the first industrial reactor in the USSR. Kurchatov personally supervised the laying of uranium. Construction was launched in 1947 in three more places: two in the Middle Urals and one in the Gorky region.

Construction work proceeded at a fast pace, but uranium was still not enough. The first industrial reactor could not be launched even by 1948. Only on June 7 of this year was the uranium loaded.

Nuclear reactor start-up experiment

The "father" of the Soviet atomic bomb personally took over the duties of the chief operator at the nuclear reactor control panel. On June 7, between 11 and 12 am, Kurchatov began an experiment to launch it. The reactor on June 8 reached a capacity of 100 kilowatts. After that, the "father" of the Soviet atomic bomb drowned out the chain reaction that had begun. The next stage of preparation of the nuclear reactor continued for two days. After the cooling water was supplied, it became clear that the uranium available was not enough to carry out the experiment. The reactor reached a critical state only after loading the fifth portion of the substance. The chain reaction has become possible again. It happened at 8 am on June 10.

On the 17th of the same month, Kurchatov, the creator of the atomic bomb in the USSR, made an entry in the journal of shift supervisors in which he warned that the water supply should not be stopped in any case, otherwise an explosion would occur. On June 19, 1938, at 12:45, an industrial start-up of a nuclear reactor, the first in Eurasia, took place.

Successful bomb tests

In 1949, in June, 10 kg of plutonium was accumulated in the USSR - the amount that was put into the bomb by the Americans. Kurchatov, the creator of the atomic bomb in the USSR, following the decree of Beria, ordered the test of the RDS-1 to be scheduled for August 29.

A section of the Irtysh waterless steppe, located in Kazakhstan, not far from Semipalatinsk, was set aside for a test site. In the center of this experimental field, whose diameter was about 20 km, a metal tower 37.5 meters high was constructed. RDS-1 was installed on it.

The charge used in the bomb was a multi-layered design. In it, the transition to the critical state of the active substance was carried out by compressing it using a spherical converging detonation wave, which was formed in the explosive.

Consequences of the explosion

The tower was completely destroyed after the explosion. A crater appeared in its place. However, the main damage was caused by the shock wave. According to the description of eyewitnesses, when a trip to the explosion site took place on August 30, the experimental field was a terrible picture. Highway and railway bridges were thrown back to a distance of 20-30 m and mangled. Cars and wagons were scattered at a distance of 50-80 m from the place where they were located, residential buildings were completely destroyed. The tanks used to test the strength of the blow lay on their sides with their turrets knocked down, and the guns were a pile of mangled metal. Also, 10 Pobeda vehicles, specially brought here for the experiment, burned down.

In total, 5 RDS-1 bombs were made. They were not transferred to the Air Force, but were stored in Arzamas-16. Today in Sarov, which was formerly Arzamas-16 (the laboratory is shown in the photo below), a mock-up bomb is on display. It is in the local nuclear weapons museum.

"Fathers" of the atomic bomb

Only 12 Nobel laureates, future and present, participated in the creation of the American atomic bomb. In addition, they were assisted by a group of scientists from Great Britain, which was sent to Los Alamos in 1943.

In Soviet times, it was believed that the USSR solved the atomic problem completely independently. Everywhere it was said that Kurchatov, the creator of the atomic bomb in the USSR, was her "father". Although rumors of secrets stolen from the Americans occasionally leaked out. And only in the 1990s, 50 years later, Yuli Khariton - one of the main participants in the events of that time - spoke about the great role of intelligence in the creation of the Soviet project. The technical and scientific results of the Americans were mined by Klaus Fuchs, who arrived in the English group.

Therefore, Oppenheimer can be considered the "father" of bombs that were created on both sides of the ocean. We can say that he was the creator of the first atomic bomb in the USSR. Both projects, American and Russian, were based on his ideas. It is wrong to consider Kurchatov and Oppenheimer only outstanding organizers. We have already talked about the Soviet scientist, as well as about the contribution made by the creator of the first atomic bomb to the USSR. Oppenheimer's main achievements were scientific. It was thanks to them that he turned out to be the head of the atomic project, just like the creator of the atomic bomb in the USSR.

Short biography of Robert Oppenheimer

This scientist was born in 1904, April 22, in New York. in 1925 he graduated from Harvard University. The future creator of the first atomic bomb was trained for a year at the Cavendish Laboratory at Rutherford. A year later, the scientist moved to the University of Göttingen. Here, under the guidance of M. Born, he defended his doctoral dissertation. In 1928 the scientist returned to the USA. The "father" of the American atomic bomb from 1929 to 1947 taught at two universities in this country - the California Institute of Technology and the University of California.

On July 16, 1945, the first bomb was successfully tested in the United States, and soon after that, Oppenheimer, along with other members of the Provisional Committee created under President Truman, was forced to choose targets for future atomic bombing. Many of his colleagues by that time were actively opposed to the use of dangerous nuclear weapons, which was not necessary, since Japan's surrender was a foregone conclusion. Oppenheimer did not join them.

Explaining his behavior later, he said that he relied on politicians and the military, who were better acquainted with the real situation. In October 1945, Oppenheimer ceased to be director of the Los Alamos Laboratory. He began work in Preston, heading the local research institute. His fame in the United States, as well as outside this country, reached its climax. New York newspapers wrote about him more and more often. President Truman presented Oppenheimer with the Medal of Merit, which was the highest decoration in America.

He wrote, in addition to scientific works, several "Open Mind", "Science and Everyday Knowledge" and others.

This scientist died in 1967, on February 18. Oppenheimer has been a heavy smoker since his youth. In 1965 he was diagnosed with cancer of the larynx. At the end of 1966, after an operation that did not bring results, he underwent chemotherapy and radiotherapy. However, the treatment had no effect, and on February 18 the scientist died.

So, Kurchatov is the "father" of the atomic bomb in the USSR, Oppenheimer - in the USA. Now you know the names of those who were the first to work on the development of nuclear weapons. Having answered the question: "Who is called the father of the atomic bomb?", we told only about the initial stages of the history of this dangerous weapon. It continues to this day. Moreover, new developments are being actively carried out in this area today. The "father" of the atomic bomb - the American Robert Oppenheimer, as well as the Russian scientist Igor Kurchatov were only pioneers in this matter.

atomic weapons - a device that receives huge explosive power from the reactions of NUCLEAR FISSION and NUCLEAR fusion.

About atomic weapons

Nuclear weapons are the most powerful weapons to date, in service with five countries: Russia, the United States, Great Britain, France and China. There are also a number of states that are more or less successful in the development of atomic weapons, but their research is either not completed, or these countries do not have the necessary means of delivering weapons to the target. India, Pakistan, North Korea, Iraq, Iran are developing nuclear weapons at different levels, Germany, Israel, South Africa and Japan theoretically have the necessary capabilities to create nuclear weapons in a relatively short time.

It is difficult to overestimate the role of nuclear weapons. On the one hand, this is a powerful deterrent, on the other hand, it is the most effective tool for strengthening peace and preventing military conflicts between powers that possess these weapons. It has been 52 years since the first use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima. The world community has come close to realizing that a nuclear war will inevitably lead to a global environmental catastrophe that will make the continued existence of mankind impossible. Over the years, legal mechanisms have been put in place to defuse tensions and ease the confrontation between the nuclear powers. For example, many treaties were signed to reduce the nuclear potential of the powers, the Convention on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons was signed, according to which the possessor countries pledged not to transfer the technology for the production of these weapons to other countries, and countries that do not have nuclear weapons pledged not to take steps to developments; Finally, most recently, the superpowers agreed on a total ban on nuclear tests. It is obvious that nuclear weapons are the most important instrument that has become the regulatory symbol of an entire era in the history of international relations and in the history of mankind.

atomic weapons

NUCLEAR WEAPON, a device that derives tremendous explosive power from the reactions of ATOMIC NUCLEAR FISSION and NUCLEAR fusion. The first nuclear weapons were used by the United States against the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945. These atomic bombs consisted of two stable doctritic masses of URANIUM and PLUTONIUM, which, when strongly collided, caused an excess of CRITICAL MASS, thereby provoking an uncontrolled CHAIN REACTION of atomic fission. In such explosions, a huge amount of energy and destructive radiation is released: the explosive power can be equal to the power of 200,000 tons of trinitrotoluene. The much more powerful hydrogen bomb (thermonuclear bomb), first tested in 1952, consists of an atomic bomb that, when detonated, creates a temperature high enough to cause nuclear fusion in a nearby solid layer, usually lithium deterrite. Explosive power can be equal to the power of several million tons (megatons) of trinitrotoluene. The area of destruction caused by such bombs reaches a large size: a 15 megaton bomb will explode all burning substances within 20 km. The third type of nuclear weapon, the neutron bomb, is a small hydrogen bomb, also called a high-radiation weapon. It causes a weak explosion, which, however, is accompanied by an intense release of high-speed NEUTRONS. The weakness of the explosion means that the buildings are not damaged much. Neutrons, on the other hand, cause severe radiation sickness in people within a certain radius of the explosion site, and kill all those affected within a week.

Initially, an atomic bomb explosion (A) forms a fireball (1) with a temperature of millions of degrees Celsius and emits radiation (?) After a few minutes (B), the ball increases in volume and creates a high pressure shock wave (3). The fireball rises (C), sucking up dust and debris, and forms a mushroom cloud (D), As it expands in volume, the fireball creates a powerful convection current (4), emitting hot radiation (5) and forming a cloud (6), When it explodes 15 megaton bomb blast destruction is complete (7) within an 8 km radius, severe (8) within a 15 km radius and noticeable (I) within a 30 km radius Even at a distance of 20 km (10) all flammable substances explode within two days fallout continues with a radioactive dose of 300 roentgens after a bomb detonation 300 km away The attached photograph shows how a large nuclear weapon explosion on the ground creates a huge mushroom cloud of radioactive dust and debris that can reach a height of several kilometers. Dangerous dust in the air is then freely carried by the prevailing winds in any direction. Devastation covers a vast area.

Modern atomic bombs and projectiles

Radius of action

Depending on the power of the atomic charge, atomic bombs are divided into calibers: small, medium and large . To obtain energy equal to the energy of an explosion of a small-caliber atomic bomb, several thousand tons of TNT must be blown up. The TNT equivalent of a medium-caliber atomic bomb is tens of thousands, and large-caliber bombs are hundreds of thousands of tons of TNT. Thermonuclear (hydrogen) weapons can have even greater power, their TNT equivalent can reach millions and even tens of millions of tons. Atomic bombs, the TNT equivalent of which is 1-50 thousand tons, are classified as tactical atomic bombs and are intended for solving operational-tactical problems. Tactical weapons also include: artillery shells with an atomic charge with a capacity of 10-15 thousand tons and atomic charges (with a capacity of about 5-20 thousand tons) for anti-aircraft guided projectiles and projectiles used to arm fighters. Atomic and hydrogen bombs with a capacity of over 50 thousand tons are classified as strategic weapons.

It should be noted that such a classification of atomic weapons is only conditional, since in reality the consequences of the use of tactical atomic weapons can be no less than those experienced by the population of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and even greater. It is now obvious that the explosion of only one hydrogen bomb is capable of causing such severe consequences over vast territories that tens of thousands of shells and bombs used in past world wars did not carry with them. And a few hydrogen bombs are enough to turn huge territories into a desert zone.

Nuclear weapons are divided into 2 main types: atomic and hydrogen (thermonuclear). In atomic weapons, the release of energy occurs due to the fission reaction of the nuclei of atoms of the heavy elements of uranium or plutonium. In hydrogen weapons, energy is released as a result of the formation (or fusion) of nuclei of helium atoms from hydrogen atoms.

thermonuclear weapons

Modern thermonuclear weapons are classified as strategic weapons that can be used by aviation to destroy the most important industrial, military facilities, large cities as civilization centers behind enemy lines. The most well-known type of thermonuclear weapons are thermonuclear (hydrogen) bombs, which can be delivered to the target by aircraft. Thermonuclear warheads can also be used to launch missiles for various purposes, including intercontinental ballistic missiles. For the first time, such a missile was tested in the USSR back in 1957; at present, the Strategic Missile Forces are armed with several types of missiles based on mobile launchers, in silo launchers, and on submarines.

Atomic bomb

The operation of thermonuclear weapons is based on the use of a thermonuclear reaction with hydrogen or its compounds. In these reactions, which proceed at ultrahigh temperatures and pressures, energy is released due to the formation of helium nuclei from hydrogen nuclei, or from hydrogen and lithium nuclei. For the formation of helium, mainly heavy hydrogen is used - deuterium, the nuclei of which have an unusual structure - one proton and one neutron. When deuterium is heated to temperatures of several tens of millions of degrees, its atoms lose their electron shells during the very first collisions with other atoms. As a result, the medium turns out to consist only of protons and electrons moving independently of them. The speed of thermal motion of particles reaches such values that deuterium nuclei can approach each other and, due to the action of powerful nuclear forces, combine with each other, forming helium nuclei. The result of this process is the release of energy.

The basic scheme of the hydrogen bomb is as follows. Deuterium and tritium in the liquid state are placed in a tank with a heat-impermeable shell, which serves to keep the deuterium and tritium in a strongly cooled state for a long time (to maintain it from the liquid state of aggregation). The heat-impervious shell can contain 3 layers consisting of a hard alloy, solid carbon dioxide and liquid nitrogen. An atomic charge is placed near a reservoir of hydrogen isotopes. When an atomic charge is detonated, hydrogen isotopes are heated to high temperatures, conditions are created for a thermonuclear reaction to occur and an explosion of a hydrogen bomb. However, in the process of creating hydrogen bombs, it was found that it was impractical to use hydrogen isotopes, since in this case the bomb becomes too heavy (more than 60 tons), which made it impossible to even think about using such charges on strategic bombers, and especially in ballistic missiles of any range. The second problem faced by the developers of the hydrogen bomb was the radioactivity of tritium, which made it impossible to store it for a long time.

In study 2, the above problems were solved. The liquid isotopes of hydrogen were replaced by the solid chemical compound of deuterium with lithium-6. This made it possible to significantly reduce the size and weight of the hydrogen bomb. In addition, lithium hydride was used instead of tritium, which made it possible to place thermonuclear charges on fighter bombers and ballistic missiles.

The creation of the hydrogen bomb was not the end of the development of thermonuclear weapons, more and more of its samples appeared, a hydrogen-uranium bomb was created, as well as some of its varieties - super-powerful and, conversely, small-caliber bombs. The last stage in the improvement of thermonuclear weapons was the creation of the so-called "clean" hydrogen bomb.

H-bomb

The first developments of this modification of a thermonuclear bomb appeared back in 1957, in the wake of US propaganda statements about the creation of some kind of “humane” thermonuclear weapon that does not cause as much harm to future generations as an ordinary thermonuclear bomb. There was some truth in the claims to "humanity". Although the destructive power of the bomb was not less, at the same time it could be detonated so that strontium-90, which in an ordinary hydrogen explosion poisons the earth's atmosphere for a long time, does not spread. Everything that is within the range of such a bomb will be destroyed, but the danger to living organisms that are removed from the explosion, as well as to future generations, will decrease. However, these allegations were refuted by scientists, who recalled that during the explosions of atomic or hydrogen bombs, a large amount of radioactive dust is formed, which rises with a powerful air flow to a height of up to 30 km, and then gradually settles to the ground over a large area, infecting it. Studies by scientists show that it will take 4 to 7 years for half of this dust to fall to the ground.

Video

The development of Soviet nuclear weapons began with the extraction of samples of radium in the early 1930s. In 1939, Soviet physicists Yuli Khariton and Yakov Zel'dovich calculated the chain reaction of nuclear fission of heavy atoms. The following year, scientists from the Ukrainian Institute of Physics and Technology submitted applications for the creation of an atomic bomb, as well as methods for producing uranium-235. For the first time, researchers proposed using conventional explosives as a means to ignite the charge, which would create a critical mass and start a chain reaction.

However, the invention of the Kharkov physicists had its shortcomings, and therefore their application, having managed to visit various authorities, was ultimately rejected. The decisive word was left to the director of the Radium Institute of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Academician Vitaly Khlopin: “... the application has no real basis. In addition, there is in fact a lot of fantastic in it ... Even if it were possible to realize a chain reaction, then the energy that is released is better used to drive engines, for example, aircraft.

The appeals of scientists on the eve of the Great Patriotic War to the people's commissar for defense, Sergei Timoshenko, also turned out to be fruitless. As a result, the project of the invention was buried on a shelf labeled "top secret".

Vladimir Semyonovich Spinel
Wikimedia Commons

In 1990, journalists asked Vladimir Shpinel, one of the authors of the bomb project: “If your proposals in 1939-1940 were duly appreciated at the government level and you were given support, when could the USSR have atomic weapons?”

“I think that with such opportunities that Igor Kurchatov later had, we would have received it in 1945,” Spinel replied.

However, it was Kurchatov who managed to use in his developments the successful American schemes for creating a plutonium bomb obtained by Soviet intelligence.

nuclear race

With the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, nuclear research was temporarily stopped. The main scientific institutes of the two capitals were evacuated to remote regions.

The head of strategic intelligence, Lavrenty Beria, was aware of the developments of Western physicists in the field of nuclear weapons. For the first time, the Soviet leadership learned about the possibility of creating a superweapon from the "father" of the American atomic bomb, Robert Oppenheimer, who visited the Soviet Union in September 1939. In the early 1940s, both politicians and scientists realized the reality of obtaining a nuclear bomb, as well as the fact that its appearance in the arsenal of the enemy would endanger the security of other powers.

In 1941, the Soviet government received the first intelligence from the United States and Great Britain, where active work had already begun on the creation of a superweapon. The main informant was the Soviet "atomic spy" Klaus Fuchs, a German physicist involved in the US and British nuclear programs.

Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, physicist Pyotr Kapitsa
RIA News
V. Noskov

Academician Pyotr Kapitsa, speaking on October 12, 1941 at an anti-fascist rally of scientists, stated: “Explosives are one of the important means of modern warfare. Science indicates the fundamental possibility of increasing the explosive force by 1.5-2 times ... Theoretical calculations show that if a modern powerful bomb can, for example, destroy an entire quarter, then an atomic bomb of even a small size, if it is feasible, could easily destroy a major metropolitan city with several million inhabitants. My personal opinion is that the technical difficulties that stand in the way of using intra-atomic energy are still very great. So far, this case is still doubtful, but it is very likely that there are great opportunities here.

In September 1942, the Soviet government adopted a resolution "On the organization of work on uranium". In the spring of the following year, Laboratory No. 2 of the USSR Academy of Sciences was created to produce the first Soviet bomb. Finally, on February 11, 1943, Stalin signed the decision of the GKO on the program of work to create an atomic bomb. At first, the deputy chairman of the GKO, Vyacheslav Molotov, was assigned to lead the important task. It was he who had to find the scientific director of the new laboratory.

Molotov himself, in a note dated July 9, 1971, recalls his decision as follows: “We have been working on this topic since 1943. I was instructed to answer for them, to find such a person who could carry out the creation of an atomic bomb. The Chekists gave me a list of reliable physicists who could be relied upon, and I chose. He summoned Kapitsa to himself, an academician. He said that we were not ready for this and that the atomic bomb was not a weapon of this war, but a matter for the future. Ioffe was asked - he, too, somehow vaguely reacted to this. In short, I had the youngest and still unknown Kurchatov, he was not given a go. I called him, we talked, he made a good impression on me. But he said he still had a lot of ambiguities. Then I decided to give him the materials of our intelligence - the intelligence officers did a very important job. Kurchatov spent several days in the Kremlin, with me, over these materials.

Over the next couple of weeks, Kurchatov thoroughly studied the data obtained by intelligence and drew up an expert opinion: “The materials are of tremendous, invaluable importance for our state and science ... The totality of information indicates the technical possibility of solving the entire uranium problem in a much shorter time than our scientists think who are not familiar with the progress of work on this problem abroad.

In mid-March, Igor Kurchatov took over as scientific director of Laboratory No. 2. In April 1946, for the needs of this laboratory, it was decided to create a design bureau KB-11. The top-secret object was located on the territory of the former Sarov Monastery, a few tens of kilometers from Arzamas.

Igor Kurchatov (right) with a group of employees of the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology
RIA News

KB-11 specialists were supposed to create an atomic bomb using plutonium as a working substance. At the same time, in the process of creating the first nuclear weapon in the USSR, domestic scientists relied on the schemes of the US plutonium bomb, which was successfully tested in 1945. However, since the production of plutonium in the Soviet Union was not yet involved, physicists at the initial stage used uranium mined in Czechoslovak mines, as well as in the territories of East Germany, Kazakhstan and Kolyma.

The first Soviet atomic bomb was named RDS-1 ("Special Jet Engine"). A group of specialists led by Kurchatov managed to load a sufficient amount of uranium into it and start a chain reaction in the reactor on June 10, 1948. The next step was to use plutonium.

"This is atomic lightning"

In the plutonium "Fat Man", dropped on Nagasaki on August 9, 1945, American scientists laid 10 kilograms of radioactive metal. The USSR managed to accumulate such a quantity of substance by June 1949. The head of the experiment, Kurchatov, informed the curator of the atomic project, Lavrenty Beria, that he was ready to test the RDS-1 on August 29.

A part of the Kazakh steppe with an area of about 20 kilometers was chosen as a testing ground. In its central part, experts built a metal tower almost 40 meters high. It was on it that the RDS-1 was installed, the mass of which was 4.7 tons.

The Soviet physicist Igor Golovin describes the situation that prevailed at the test site a few minutes before the start of the tests: “Everything is fine. And suddenly, with a general silence, ten minutes before “one”, Beria’s voice is heard: “But nothing will work out for you, Igor Vasilyevich!” - “What are you, Lavrenty Pavlovich! It will definitely work!" - exclaims Kurchatov and continues to watch, only his neck turned purple and his face became gloomy and concentrated.

To Abram Ioyrysh, a prominent scientist in the field of atomic law, Kurchatov’s condition seems similar to a religious experience: “Kurchatov rushed out of the casemate, ran up an earthen rampart and shouted “She!” waved his arms widely, repeating: “She, she!” and a gleam spread over his face. The pillar of the explosion swirled and went into the stratosphere. A shock wave was approaching the command post, clearly visible on the grass. Kurchatov rushed towards her. Flerov rushed after him, grabbed him by the arm, forcibly dragged him into the casemate and closed the door. The author of the biography of Kurchatov, Pyotr Astashenkov, endows his hero with the following words: “This is atomic lightning. Now she is in our hands ... "

Immediately after the explosion, the metal tower collapsed to the ground, and only a funnel remained in its place. A powerful shock wave threw highway bridges a couple of tens of meters away, and the cars that were nearby scattered across the open spaces almost 70 meters from the explosion site.

Nuclear mushroom ground explosion RDS-1 August 29, 1949
Archive RFNC-VNIIEF

Once, after another test, Kurchatov was asked: “Are you not worried about the moral side of this invention?”

“You asked a legitimate question,” he replied. But I think it's misdirected. It is better to address it not to us, but to those who unleashed these forces... It is not physics that is terrible, but an adventurous game, not science, but the use of it by scoundrels... When science makes a breakthrough and opens up the possibility for actions that affect millions of people, the need arises to rethink the norms of morality in order to bring these actions under control. But nothing of the sort happened. Rather the opposite. Just think about it - Churchill's speech in Fulton, military bases, bombers along our borders. The intentions are very clear. Science has been turned into an instrument of blackmail and the main determinant of politics. Do you think morality will stop them? And if this is the case, and this is the case, you have to talk to them in their language. Yes, I know that the weapon we have created is an instrument of violence, but we were forced to create it in order to avoid more heinous violence!” - the answer of the scientist in the book of Abram Ioyrysh and nuclear physicist Igor Morokhov "A-bomb" is described.

A total of five RDS-1 bombs were manufactured. All of them were stored in the closed city of Arzamas-16. Now you can see the model of the bomb in the nuclear weapons museum in Sarov (former Arzamas-16).

The appearance of such a powerful weapon as a nuclear bomb was the result of the interaction of global factors of an objective and subjective nature. Objectively, its creation was caused by the rapid development of science, which began with the fundamental discoveries of physics in the first half of the 20th century. The strongest subjective factor was the military-political situation of the 40s, when the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition - the USA, Great Britain, the USSR - tried to get ahead of each other in the development of nuclear weapons.

Prerequisites for the creation of a nuclear bomb

The starting point of the scientific path to the creation of atomic weapons was 1896, when the French chemist A. Becquerel discovered the radioactivity of uranium. It was the chain reaction of this element that formed the basis for the development of terrible weapons.

At the end of the 19th and in the first decades of the 20th century, scientists discovered alpha, beta, gamma rays, discovered many radioactive isotopes of chemical elements, the law of radioactive decay, and laid the foundation for the study of nuclear isometry. In the 1930s, the neutron and positron became known, and the nucleus of the uranium atom with the absorption of neutrons was first split. This was the impetus for the creation of nuclear weapons. The French physicist Frédéric Joliot-Curie was the first to invent and patent the design of the nuclear bomb in 1939.

As a result of further development, nuclear weapons have become a historically unprecedented military-political and strategic phenomenon capable of ensuring the national security of the owner state and minimizing the capabilities of all other weapons systems.

The design of an atomic bomb consists of a number of different components, among which there are two main ones:

frame,
automation system.

Automation, together with a nuclear charge, is located in a case that protects them from various influences (mechanical, thermal, etc.). The automation system controls that the explosion occurs at a strictly set time. It consists of the following elements:

emergency detonation;
safety and cocking device;
power supply;
charge detonation sensors.

Delivery of atomic charges is carried out with the help of aviation, ballistic and cruise missiles. At the same time, nuclear munitions can be an element of a land mine, torpedo, aerial bombs, etc.

Nuclear bomb detonation systems are different. The simplest is the injection device, in which the impetus for the explosion is hitting the target and the subsequent formation of a supercritical mass.

Another characteristic of atomic weapons is the size of the caliber: small, medium, large. Most often, the power of the explosion is characterized in TNT equivalent. A small caliber nuclear weapon implies a charge capacity of several thousand tons of TNT. The average caliber is already equal to tens of thousands of tons of TNT, large - measured in millions.

Operating principle

The scheme of the atomic bomb is based on the principle of using nuclear energy released during a nuclear chain reaction. This is the process of fission of heavy or synthesis of light nuclei. Due to the release of a huge amount of intra-nuclear energy in the shortest period of time, a nuclear bomb is classified as a weapon of mass destruction.

There are two key points in this process:

the center of a nuclear explosion, in which the process directly takes place;
the epicenter, which is the projection of this process onto the surface (land or water).

A nuclear explosion releases an amount of energy that, when projected onto the ground, causes seismic tremors. The range of their distribution is very large, but significant environmental damage is caused at a distance of only a few hundred meters.

Nuclear weapons have several types of destruction:

light emission,
radioactive contamination,
shockwave,
penetrating radiation,
electromagnetic impulse.

A nuclear explosion is accompanied by a bright flash, which is formed due to the release of a large amount of light and thermal energy. The strength of this flash is many times greater than the power of the sun's rays, so the danger of light and heat damage extends for several kilometers.

Another very dangerous factor in the impact of a nuclear bomb is the radiation generated during the explosion. It works only for the first 60 seconds, but has a maximum penetrating power.

The shock wave has a high power and a significant destructive effect, therefore, in a matter of seconds, it causes great harm to people, equipment, and buildings.

Penetrating radiation is dangerous for living organisms and is the cause of radiation sickness in humans. The electromagnetic pulse affects only the technique.

All these types of damage combined make the atomic bomb a very dangerous weapon.

First nuclear bomb tests

The United States was the first to show the greatest interest in atomic weapons. At the end of 1941, huge funds and resources were allocated in the country for the creation of nuclear weapons. The work resulted in the first tests of an atomic bomb with an explosive device "Gadget", which took place on July 16, 1945 in the US state of New Mexico.

It is time for the US to act. For the victorious end of the Second World War, it was decided to defeat the ally of Nazi Germany - Japan. At the Pentagon, targets were chosen for the first nuclear strikes, in which the United States wanted to demonstrate how powerful weapons they possess.

On August 6 of the same year, the first atomic bomb under the name "Kid" was dropped on the Japanese city of Hiroshima, and on August 9, a bomb with the name "Fat Man" fell on Nagasaki.

The hit in Hiroshima was considered ideal: a nuclear device exploded at an altitude of 200 meters. The blast wave overturned the stoves in the houses of the Japanese, heated by coal. This has led to numerous fires even in urban areas far from the epicenter.

The initial flash was followed by a heat wave impact that lasted seconds, but its power, covering a radius of 4 km, melted tiles and quartz in granite slabs, incinerated telegraph poles. After the heat wave came the shock wave. The wind speed was 800 km / h, and its gust demolished almost everything in the city. Of the 76,000 buildings, 70,000 were completely destroyed.

A few minutes later, a strange rain of large black drops began to fall. It was caused by condensation formed in the colder layers of the atmosphere from steam and ash.

People hit by a fireball at a distance of 800 meters were burned and turned into dust. Some had their burnt skin torn off by the shock wave. Drops of black radioactive rain left incurable burns.

The survivors fell ill with a previously unknown disease. They began to experience nausea, vomiting, fever, bouts of weakness. The level of white cells in the blood dropped sharply. These were the first signs of radiation sickness.

3 days after the bombing of Hiroshima, a bomb was dropped on Nagasaki. It had the same power and caused similar effects.

Two atomic bombs killed hundreds of thousands of people in seconds. The first city was practically wiped off the face of the earth by the shock wave. More than half of the civilians (about 240 thousand people) died immediately from their wounds. Many people were exposed to radiation, which led to radiation sickness, cancer, infertility. In Nagasaki, 73 thousand people were killed in the first days, and after a while another 35 thousand inhabitants died in great agony.

Video: nuclear bomb tests

RDS-37 tests

Creation of the atomic bomb in Russia

The consequences of the bombing and the history of the inhabitants of Japanese cities shocked I. Stalin. It became clear that the creation of their own nuclear weapons is a matter of national security. On August 20, 1945, the Atomic Energy Committee began its work in Russia, headed by L. Beria.

Nuclear physics research has been carried out in the USSR since 1918. In 1938, a commission on the atomic nucleus was established at the Academy of Sciences. But with the outbreak of war, almost all work in this direction was suspended.

In 1943, Soviet intelligence officers handed over from England closed scientific papers on atomic energy, from which it followed that the creation of the atomic bomb in the West had advanced far ahead. At the same time, in the United States, reliable agents were introduced into several American nuclear research centers. They passed information on the atomic bomb to Soviet scientists.

The terms of reference for the development of two variants of the atomic bomb were compiled by their creator and one of the scientific leaders Yu. Khariton. In accordance with it, it was planned to create an RDS (“special jet engine”) with an index of 1 and 2:

RDS-1 - a bomb with a charge of plutonium, which was supposed to undermine by spherical compression. His device was handed over by Russian intelligence.
RDS-2 is a cannon bomb with two parts of a uranium charge, which must approach each other in the cannon barrel until a critical mass is created.

In the history of the famous RDS, the most common decoding - "Russia does it itself" - was invented by Yu. Khariton's deputy for scientific work K. Shchelkin. These words very accurately conveyed the essence of the work.

Information that the USSR had mastered the secrets of nuclear weapons caused an impulse in the USA to start a pre-emptive war as soon as possible. In July 1949, the Trojan plan appeared, according to which it was planned to start hostilities on January 1, 1950. Then the date of the attack was moved to January 1, 1957, with the condition that all NATO countries enter the war.

Information received through intelligence channels accelerated the work of Soviet scientists. According to Western experts, Soviet nuclear weapons could not have been created before 1954-1955. However, the test of the first atomic bomb took place in the USSR at the end of August 1949.

On August 29, 1949, the RDS-1 nuclear device was blown up at the Semipalatinsk test site - the first Soviet atomic bomb, which was invented by a team of scientists headed by I. Kurchatov and Yu. Khariton. The explosion had a power of 22 kt. The design of the charge imitated the American "Fat Man", and the electronic filling was created by Soviet scientists.

The Trojan plan, according to which the Americans were going to drop atomic bombs on 70 cities in the USSR, was thwarted due to the likelihood of a retaliatory strike. The event at the Semipalatinsk test site informed the world that the Soviet atomic bomb ended the American monopoly on the possession of new weapons. This invention completely destroyed the militaristic plan of the USA and NATO and prevented the development of the Third World War. A new history has begun - an era of world peace, existing under the threat of total destruction.

"Nuclear club" of the world

The nuclear club is a symbol for several states that own nuclear weapons. Today there are such weapons:

in the USA (since 1945)
in Russia (originally USSR, since 1949)
in the UK (since 1952)
in France (since 1960)
in China (since 1964)
in India (since 1974)
in Pakistan (since 1998)
in North Korea (since 2006)

Israel is also considered to have nuclear weapons, although the country's leadership does not comment on its presence. In addition, on the territory of NATO member states (Germany, Italy, Turkey, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada) and allies (Japan, South Korea, despite the official refusal), US nuclear weapons are located.

Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Belarus, which owned part of the nuclear weapons after the collapse of the USSR, in the 90s handed it over to Russia, which became the sole heir to the Soviet nuclear arsenal.

Atomic (nuclear) weapons are the most powerful tool of global politics, which has firmly entered the arsenal of relations between states. On the one hand, it is an effective deterrent, on the other hand, it is a weighty argument for preventing military conflict and strengthening peace between the powers that own these weapons. This is a symbol of an entire era in the history of mankind and international relations, which must be handled very wisely.

Video: nuclear weapons museum

Video about the Russian Tsar Bomba

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