A democratic form of governance must be established in the USSR.
Vernadsky V.I.
The atomic bomb in the USSR was created on August 29, 1949 (the first successful launch). The project was led by academician Igor Vasilievich Kurchatov. The period of development of atomic weapons in the USSR lasted from 1942, and ended with testing on the territory of Kazakhstan. This broke the US monopoly on such weapons, because since 1945 they were the only nuclear power. The article is devoted to describing the history of the emergence of the Soviet nuclear bomb, as well as characterizing the consequences of these events for the USSR.
History of creation
In 1941, representatives of the USSR in New York conveyed information to Stalin that a meeting of physicists was being held in the United States, which was devoted to the development of nuclear weapons. Soviet scientists in the 1930s also worked on atomic research, the most famous being the splitting of the atom by scientists from Kharkov led by L. Landau. However, it never came to the point of actual use in weapons. In addition to the United States, Nazi Germany worked on this. At the end of 1941, the United States began its atomic project. Stalin 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 came to America. In any case, in the summer of 1945, at the Potsdam Conference, the new US President G. Truman informed Stalin about the completion of work on a new weapon - the atomic bomb. Moreover, to demonstrate the work of American scientists, the US government decided to test the new weapon in combat: on August 6 and 9, bombs were dropped on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was the first time that humanity learned about a new weapon. It was this event that forced Stalin to speed up the work of his scientists. I. Kurchatov was summoned by Stalin and promised to fulfill any demands of the scientist, as long as the process proceeded as quickly as possible. Moreover, a state committee was created under the Council of People's Commissars, which oversaw the Soviet atomic project. It was headed by L. Beria.
Development has moved to three centers:
- The design bureau of the Kirov plant, working on the creation of special equipment.
- A diffuse plant in the Urals, which was supposed to work on the creation of enriched uranium.
- Chemical and metallurgical centers where plutonium was studied. It was this element that was used in the first Soviet-style nuclear bomb.
In 1946, the first Soviet unified nuclear center was created. It was a secret facility Arzamas-16, located in the city of Sarov (Nizhny Novgorod region). In 1947, the first nuclear reactor was created at an enterprise near Chelyabinsk. In 1948, a secret training ground was created on the territory of Kazakhstan, near the city of Semipalatinsk-21. It was here that on August 29, 1949, the first explosion of the Soviet atomic bomb RDS-1 was organized. This event was kept completely secret, but American Pacific aviation was able to record a sharp increase in radiation levels, which was evidence of the testing of a new weapon. Already in September 1949, G. Truman announced the presence of an atomic bomb in the USSR. Officially, the USSR admitted to the presence of these weapons only in 1950.
Several main consequences of the successful development of atomic weapons by Soviet scientists can be identified:
- Loss of the US status as a single state with atomic weapons. This not only equalized the USSR with the USA in terms of military power, but also forced the latter to think through each of their military steps, since now they had to fear for the response of the USSR leadership.
- The presence of atomic weapons in the USSR secured its status as a superpower.
- After the USA and the USSR were equalized in the availability of atomic weapons, the race for their quantity began. States spent huge amounts of money to outdo their competitors. Moreover, attempts began to create even more powerful weapons.
- These events marked the start of the nuclear race. Many countries have begun to invest resources to add to the list of nuclear weapons states and ensure their security.
Koh Kambaran. Pakistan decided to conduct its first nuclear tests in the province of Balochistan. The charges were placed in a tunnel dug in Mount Koh Kambaran and detonated in May 1998. Local residents hardly visit this area, with the exception of a few nomads and herbalists.
Maralinga. The site in southern Australia, where atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons took place, was once considered sacred by local residents. As a result, twenty years after the end of the tests, a repeat operation was organized to clean up Maralinga. The first was carried out after the final test in 1963. 
Reserved On May 18, 1974, an 8-kiloton bomb was tested in the Indian desert of Rajasthan. In May 1998, five charges were exploded at the Pokhran test site, including a thermonuclear charge of 43 kilotons. 
Bikini Atoll. In the Marshall Islands in the Pacific Ocean there is Bikini Atoll, where the United States actively conducted nuclear tests. Other explosions were rarely caught on film, but these were filmed quite often. Of course - 67 tests between 1946 and 1958. 
Christmas Island. Christmas Island, also known as Kiritimati, stands out because both Britain and the United States conducted nuclear weapons tests there. In 1957, the first British hydrogen bomb was detonated there, and in 1962, as part of Project Dominic, the United States tested 22 charges there. 
Lop Nor. About 45 warheads were detonated at the site of a dry salt lake in western China, both in the atmosphere and underground. Testing was stopped in 1996. 
Mururoa. The South Pacific atoll has been through a lot - 181 French nuclear weapons tests from 1966 to 1986, to be exact. The last charge got stuck in an underground mine and when it exploded, it created a crack several kilometers long. After this, the tests were stopped. 
New Earth. The archipelago in the Arctic Ocean was chosen for nuclear testing on September 17, 1954. Since then, 132 nuclear explosions have been carried out there, including a test of the most powerful hydrogen bomb in the world, the 58-megaton Tsar Bomba. 
Semipalatinsk From 1949 to 1989, at least 468 nuclear tests were carried out at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site. So much plutonium accumulated there that from 1996 to 2012, Kazakhstan, Russia and the United States conducted a secret operation to search for and collect and dispose of radioactive materials. It was possible to collect about 200 kg of plutonium. 
Nevada. The Nevada Test Site, which has existed since 1951, breaks all records - 928 nuclear explosions, 800 of them underground. Considering that the test site is located only 100 kilometers from Las Vegas, nuclear mushrooms half a century ago were considered a completely normal part of entertainment for tourists. 
OPERATION "SNOWBALL" IN THE USSR.
50 years ago, the USSR carried out Operation Snowball.
September 14 marked the 50th anniversary of the tragic events at the Totsky training ground. What happened on September 14, 1954 in the Orenburg region was surrounded by a thick veil of secrecy for many years.
At 9:33 a.m., an explosion of one of the most powerful nuclear bombs of that time thundered over the steppe. Next on the offensive - past forests burning in a nuclear fire, villages razed to the ground - the "eastern" troops rushed into the attack.
The planes, striking ground targets, crossed the stem of the nuclear mushroom. 10 km from the epicenter of the explosion, in radioactive dust, among molten sand, the “Westerners” held their defense. More shells and bombs were fired that day than during the storming of Berlin.
All participants in the exercises were required to sign a non-disclosure of state and military secrets for a period of 25 years. Dying from early heart attacks, strokes and cancer, they could not even tell their attending physicians about their exposure to radiation. Few participants in the Totsk exercises managed to survive to this day. Half a century later, they told Moskovsky Komsomolets about the events of 1954 in the Orenburg steppe.
Preparing for Operation Snowball
“The entire end of summer, military trains from all over the Union were coming to the small Totskoye station. None of those arriving - not even the command of the military units - had any idea why they were here. Our train was met at each station by women and children. Handing us sour cream and eggs, women they lamented: “Dear ones, you’re probably going to China to fight,” says Vladimir Bentsianov, chairman of the Committee of Veterans of Special Risk Units.
In the early 50s, they were seriously preparing for the Third World War. After tests carried out in the USA, the USSR also decided to test a nuclear bomb in open areas. The location of the exercises - in the Orenburg steppe - was chosen due to its similarity with the Western European landscape.
“At first, combined arms exercises with a real nuclear explosion were planned to be held at the Kapustin Yar missile range, but in the spring of 1954, the Totsky range was assessed, and it was recognized as the best in terms of safety conditions,” Lieutenant General Osin recalled at one time.
Participants in the Totsky exercises tell a different story. The field where it was planned to drop a nuclear bomb was clearly visible.
“For the exercises, the strongest guys from our departments were selected. We were given personal service weapons - modernized Kalashnikov assault rifles, rapid-fire ten-round automatic rifles and R-9 radios,” recalls Nikolai Pilshchikov.
The tent camp stretches for 42 kilometers. Representatives of 212 units arrived at the exercises - 45 thousand military personnel: 39 thousand soldiers, sergeants and foremen, 6 thousand officers, generals and marshals.
Preparations for the exercise, code-named “Snowball,” lasted three months. By the end of summer, the huge Battlefield was literally dotted with tens of thousands of kilometers of trenches, trenches and anti-tank ditches. We built hundreds of pillboxes, bunkers, and dugouts.
On the eve of the exercise, officers were shown a secret film about the operation of nuclear weapons. “For this purpose, a special cinema pavilion was built, into which people were admitted only with a list and an identity card in the presence of the regiment commander and a KGB representative. Then we heard: “You have a great honor - for the first time in the world to act in real conditions of using a nuclear bomb.” It became clear , for which we covered the trenches and dugouts with logs in several layers, carefully coating the protruding wooden parts with yellow clay. “They should not have caught fire from light radiation,” recalled Ivan Putivlsky.
“Residents of the villages of Bogdanovka and Fedorovka, which were 5-6 km from the epicenter of the explosion, were asked to temporarily evacuate 50 km from the site of the exercise. They were taken out by troops in an organized manner; they were allowed to take everything with them. The evacuated residents were paid daily allowances throughout the entire period of the exercise,” - says Nikolai Pilshchikov.
“Preparations for the exercises were carried out under artillery cannonade. Hundreds of planes bombed designated areas. A month before the start, every day a Tu-4 plane dropped a “blank” - a mock-up of a bomb weighing 250 kg - into the epicenter,” recalled exercise participant Putivlsky.
According to the recollections of Lieutenant Colonel Danilenko, in an old oak grove, surrounded by mixed forest, a white limestone cross measuring 100x100 m was made. The training pilots aimed at it. The deviation from the target should not exceed 500 meters. Troops were stationed all around.
Two crews trained: Major Kutyrchev and Captain Lyasnikov. Until the very last moment, the pilots did not know who would be the main one and who would be the backup. Kutyrchev’s crew, who already had experience in flight testing an atomic bomb at the Semipalatinsk test site, had an advantage.
To prevent damage from the shock wave, troops located at a distance of 5-7.5 km from the epicenter of the explosion were ordered to remain in shelters, and further 7.5 km - in trenches in a sitting or lying position.
On one of the hills, 15 km from the planned epicenter of the explosion, a government platform was built to observe the exercises, says Ivan Putivlsky. - The day before it was painted with oil paints in green and white. Surveillance devices were installed on the podium. To the side of it from the railway station, an asphalt road was laid along the deep sands. The military traffic inspectorate did not allow any foreign vehicles onto this road."
“Three days before the start of the exercise, senior military leaders began to arrive at the field airfield in the Totsk area: Marshals of the Soviet Union Vasilevsky, Rokossovsky, Konev, Malinovsky,” recalls Pilshchikov. “Even the defense ministers of the people’s democracies, generals Marian Spychalsky, Ludwig Svoboda, Marshal Zhu-De and Peng-De-Huai. All of them were located in a government town pre-built in the area of the camp. A day before the exercises, Khrushchev, Bulganin and the creator of nuclear weapons, Kurchatov, appeared in Totsk.”
Marshal Zhukov was appointed head of the exercises. Around the epicenter of the explosion, marked with a white cross, military equipment was placed: tanks, planes, armored personnel carriers, to which “landing troops” were tied in trenches and on the ground: sheep, dogs, horses and calves.
From 8,000 meters, a Tu-4 bomber dropped a nuclear bomb on the test site
On the day of departure for the exercise, both Tu-4 crews prepared in full: nuclear bombs were suspended on each of the planes, the pilots simultaneously started the engines, and reported their readiness to complete the mission. Kutyrchev's crew received the command to take off, where Captain Kokorin was the bombardier, Romensky was the second pilot, and Babets was the navigator. The Tu-4 was accompanied by two MiG-17 fighters and an Il-28 bomber, which were supposed to conduct weather reconnaissance and filming, as well as guard the carrier in flight.
“On September 14, we were alerted at four o’clock in the morning. It was a clear and quiet morning,” says Ivan Putivlsky. “There wasn’t a cloud in the sky. We were taken by car to the foot of the government podium. We sat tight in the ravine and took pictures. The first signal was through loudspeakers. The government rostrum sounded 15 minutes before the nuclear explosion: “The ice has moved!” 10 minutes before the explosion, we heard the second signal: “The ice is coming!” We, as we were instructed, ran out of the cars and rushed to the previously prepared shelters in the ravine. on the side of the podium. They lay down on their stomachs, with their heads towards the explosion, as they had been taught, with their eyes closed, their hands under their heads and their mouths open. The last, third signal sounded: “Lightning!” There was a hellish roar in the distance. 9 hours 33 minutes."
The carrier aircraft dropped the atomic bomb from a height of 8 thousand meters on the second approach to the target. The power of the plutonium bomb, code-named “Tatyanka,” was 40 kilotons of TNT—several times more than the one that exploded over Hiroshima. According to the memoirs of Lieutenant General Osin, a similar bomb was previously tested at the Semipalatinsk test site in 1951. Totskaya "Tatyanka" exploded at an altitude of 350 m from the ground. The deviation from the intended epicenter was 280 m in the northwest direction.
At the last moment, the wind changed: it carried the radioactive cloud not to the deserted steppe, as expected, but straight to Orenburg and further, towards Krasnoyarsk.
5 minutes after the nuclear explosion, artillery preparation began, then a bomber strike was carried out. Guns and mortars of various calibers, Katyusha rockets, self-propelled artillery units, and tanks buried in the ground began to speak. The battalion commander told us later that the density of fire per kilometer of area was greater than during the capture of Berlin, recalls Casanov.
“During the explosion, despite the closed trenches and dugouts where we were, a bright light penetrated there; after a few seconds we heard a sound in the form of a sharp lightning discharge,” says Nikolai Pilshchikov. “After 3 hours, an attack signal was received. The planes, striking strike on ground targets 21-22 minutes after the nuclear explosion, crossed the stem of the nuclear mushroom - the trunk of the radioactive cloud. I and my battalion in an armored personnel carrier followed 600 m from the epicenter of the explosion at a speed of 16-18 km/h. I saw it burned from the root to the top. forest, crumpled columns of equipment, burnt animals." At the very epicenter - within a radius of 300 m - there was not a single hundred-year-old oak tree left, everything was burned... The equipment a kilometer from the explosion was pressed into the ground...
“We crossed the valley, one and a half kilometers from which the epicenter of the explosion was located, wearing gas masks,” recalls Casanov. “Out of the corner of our eyes we managed to notice how piston aircraft, cars and staff vehicles were burning, the remains of cows and sheep were lying everywhere. The ground resembled slag and some kind of monstrous whipped consistency. 
The area after the explosion was difficult to recognize: the grass was smoking, scorched quails were running, bushes and copses had disappeared. Bare, smoking hills surrounded me. There was a solid black wall of smoke and dust, stench and burning. My throat was dry and sore, there was a ringing and noise in my ears... The Major General ordered me to measure the radiation level at the burning fire nearby with a dosimetric device. I ran up, opened the damper on the bottom of the device, and... the arrow went off scale. “Get in the car!” the general commanded, and we drove away from this place, which turned out to be close to the immediate epicenter of the explosion..."
Two days later - on September 17, 1954 - a TASS message was published in the Pravda newspaper: “In accordance with the plan of research and experimental work, in recent days a test of one of the types of atomic weapons was carried out in the Soviet Union. The purpose of the test was to study the effect atomic explosion. The testing obtained valuable results that will help Soviet scientists and engineers successfully solve problems of protection against atomic attack."
The troops completed their task: the country's nuclear shield was created.
Residents of the surrounding two-thirds of the burned villages dragged the new houses built for them log by log to the old - inhabited and already contaminated - places, collected radioactive grain in the fields, potatoes baked in the ground... And for a long time the old-timers of Bogdanovka, Fedorovka and the village of Sorochinskoye remembered strange glow from the wood. The woodpiles, made from trees charred in the area of the explosion, glowed in the darkness with a greenish fire.
Mice, rats, rabbits, sheep, cows, horses and even insects that visited the “zone” were subjected to close examination... “After the exercises, we only went through radiation control,” recalls Nikolai Pilshchikov. “The experts paid much more attention to what was given to us in day of training with dry rations, wrapped in an almost two-centimeter layer of rubber... He was immediately taken for examination. The next day, all soldiers and officers were transferred to a regular diet. The delicacies disappeared.”
They were returning from the Totsky training ground, according to the memoirs of Stanislav Ivanovich Casanov, they were not in the freight train in which they arrived, but in a normal passenger carriage. Moreover, the train was allowed through without the slightest delay. Stations flew past: an empty platform, on which a lonely stationmaster stood and saluted. The reason was simple. On the same train, in a special carriage, Semyon Mikhailovich Budyonny was returning from training.
“In Moscow, at the Kazansky station, the marshal had a magnificent welcome,” recalls Kazanov. “Our cadets of the sergeant school received neither insignia, nor special certificates, nor awards... We also did not receive the gratitude that Minister of Defense Bulganin announced to us anywhere later. ".
The pilots who dropped a nuclear bomb were awarded a Pobeda car for successfully completing this task. At the debriefing of the exercises, crew commander Vasily Kutyrchev received the Order of Lenin and, ahead of schedule, the rank of colonel from the hands of Bulganin.
The results of combined arms exercises using nuclear weapons were classified as “top secret.”
Participants in the Totsk exercises were not given any documents; they appeared only in 1990, when they were equal in rights to Chernobyl survivors.
Of the 45 thousand military personnel who took part in the Totsk exercises, a little more than 2 thousand are now alive. Half of them are officially recognized as disabled people of the first and second groups, 74.5% have diseases of the cardiovascular system, including hypertension and cerebral atherosclerosis, another 20.5% have diseases of the digestive system, 4.5% have malignant neoplasms and blood diseases.
Ten years ago in Totsk - at the epicenter of the explosion - a memorial sign was erected: a stele with bells. Every September 14, they will ring in memory of all those affected by radiation at the Totsky, Semipalatinsk, Novozemelsky, Kapustin-Yarsky and Ladoga test sites.
Rest, O Lord, the souls of your departed servants...
Russia intends to resume non-nuclear explosive testing at the Central Nuclear Test Site on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. Such experiments do not run counter to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty and make it possible to assess the combat effectiveness of nuclear weapons as part of a program to extend their service life. Probably, in order to accomplish this task, the Russian Ministry of Defense intends to strengthen its military presence on the archipelago in the Arctic Ocean.
Information about plans for the military development of Novaya Zemlya and the nuclear test site on this archipelago began to gradually leak into the media from the beginning of September 2012. Thus, on September 4, Colonel Yuri Sych, head of the 12th Main Directorate of the Russian Ministry of Defense, responsible for nuclear technical support and safety, announced that the test site on Novaya Zemlya is being maintained in readiness to conduct non-nuclear explosive experiments and full-scale nuclear tests.
On September 28, Nezavisimaya Gazeta, with reference to the state corporation Rosatom, wrote that non-nuclear explosive experiments on Novaya Zemlya will be resumed. The same information was confirmed by Jane’s agency on October 4, also citing a source in Rosatom. Against this background, the message about the intention of the Russian Ministry of Defense to strengthen its military presence in the archipelago received an additional logical explanation.
At the end of September, troops of the Western Military District completed exercises of an interspecific group of troops and forces of the Russian Northern Fleet. More than 7,000 military personnel, about 20 ships and submarines, 30 aircraft and 150 pieces of military equipment took part in them. Various episodes of the exercise were practiced in the Barents and Kara seas, on the Sredny and Rybachy peninsulas, as well as off the coast of Novaya Zemlya.
Currently, about 70% of nuclear weapons in Russia's arsenal are obsolete , produced back in Soviet times. At the same time, the service life of some of these weapons has already been extended several times, and will continue to be extended. In particular, NPO Mashinostroyenia intends to extend the warranty service life of liquid-propellant ballistic missiles UR-100N UTTH to 35-36 years (currently it is 33 years). The missiles will serve as part of Russia's nuclear shield for at least another 20 years.
Non-nuclear explosive tests on Novaya Zemlya will be resumed at the test site in the Matochkin Shar Strait, separating the northern Novaya Zemlya island from the southern one. This strait has a depth of about 12 meters, a width of 600 meters, anchorages, as well as high, often steep banks. Such a test site is considered the best place for non-nuclear experiments.
EXPLOSION WITHOUT CONSEQUENCES
Extending the service life of strategic missile systems is actually carried out in two main stages. The capabilities of the missiles themselves, acting as carriers of nuclear weapons, are periodically tested through test launches. In this case, the missile warhead is replaced by a mass-dimensional mockup. Such test firing, in particular, is carried out at the Kura training ground in Kamchatka. The second stage is assessing the service life of warheads, and it is becoming increasingly important within the framework of existing programs to extend the service life of strategic missiles.
To assess the residual life of warheads and their combat effectiveness, Russia conducts non-nuclear explosive experiments (they are also called subcritical or subcritical nuclear tests). They are not subject to the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT), signed by Russia in 1996, because such experiments do not cause environmental contamination, radioactive emissions or powerful seismic vibrations.
Currently, two main options for non-nuclear explosive tests are being carried out - using isotopes of uranium or plutonium (235U and 239Pu), which have already passed a certain storage period, or fragments of nuclear charges. In such experiments, a chemical explosive is detonated, the blast wave from which compresses the materials under study (in the case of fragments of nuclear charges, compression does not occur from all sides in order to avoid the occurrence of a nuclear reaction).
In general, such experiments allow researchers to gain insight into the physical processes occurring in nuclear charges, determine the remaining storage life of warheads and confirm their reliability. In addition, thanks to such experiments, it becomes possible to evaluate the effect of long-term storage on the design of warheads and the materials used in them, as well as the possibility of replacing some materials with others.
There is no longer any need to study the destructive potential of a nuclear charge. During previous nuclear explosions in the USSR from 1954 to 1990, scientists obtained enough data to predict the consequences of a nuclear explosion of a given power, carried out on the ground, underground, in the air, on water or under water. At the Novaya Zemlya test site alone, 130 nuclear explosions were carried out (1 land, 3 underwater, 85 air, 2 surface and 39 underground), including the test of the 58-megaton bomb AN602.
During non-nuclear explosive tests, the share of energy released during the explosion of a nuclear substance itself does not exceed 0.1 micrograms of TNT equivalent or 0.0041 joule. The experiments carried out in Russia have four levels of protection, which are believed to completely eliminate any negative consequences, such as the leakage of radioactive materials into the soil or water. When conducting subcritical nuclear tests, researchers are no more than 30 meters from the epicenter.
In preparation for testing, a mock-up of a nuclear device is placed in a special container covered with bentonite clay. This container is lowered into a pre-prepared adit, which is then concreted.
In the event of an explosion, the main protective function is performed by the container, however, in the event of a breakthrough, the bentonite clay vitrifies under the influence of heat from the chemical explosive, clogging possible cracks in the adit and clogging parts of the nuclear device in the glass mass.
It is not clear why reports about Russia resuming subcritical nuclear tests began to appear now. It is curious that Russia has never announced the cessation of such experiments. Moreover, in September 2010, Vladimir Verkhovtsev, who then held the position of head of the 12th Main Directorate of the Ministry of Defense, stated that non-nuclear explosive experiments were being conducted in the country.
« In the absence of full-scale nuclear tests, non-nuclear explosive experiments, which are not accompanied by the release of nuclear energy, serve as a mandatory tool for monitoring the performance, reliability and safety of nuclear charges.“Verkhovtsev said, noting that such tests are carried out jointly by the Russian Ministry of Defense and the Rosatom state corporation at the Central Test Site on Novaya Zemlya.
LOOPHOLE IN THE LAW
Subcritical nuclear tests are, in fact, a kind of loophole to circumvent the provisions of the CTBT. The relevance of such experiments in recent years has increased significantly not only in Russia, but also in the United States and other countries of the nuclear club, which formed their main stockpiles of such weapons in the 1960-1970s.
Subcritical tests make it possible not only to extend the service life or modernize existing nuclear warheads, but also to develop new ones. In the latter case, computer modeling is also actively used. However, not all experts are confident in the suitability of subcritical tests for the development of new weapons.
CTBT
The Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty has so far been signed by 182 states. It was not signed by India, Pakistan and North Korea, which have nuclear weapons. The treaty was ratified by 157 countries, but the United States, China, Israel, Iran and Egypt refused to ratify it.The implementation of the treaty, which has not yet entered into force, is monitored by an international monitoring system, which includes 170 seismic stations, 60 infrasound, 80 radionuclide and 11 hydroacoustic laboratories located around the world. Such a system makes it possible to detect nuclear explosions with a yield of at least 0.1 kilotons of TNT, and for some regions of the Earth this threshold is 0.01 kilotons.
In November 2011, the British group Trident Commission, created by the American-British research organization BASIC, released a report according to which the cost of developing the nuclear arsenals of Russia and the United States in the next ten years will amount to about 770 billion dollars. The United States will spend most of this amount—$700 billion—on its nuclear weapons. We are talking about modernizing the W78 warheads, extending the service life of the W76 warheads, B61 bombs, developing a new NGB bomber, the SSBN(X) strategic nuclear submarine and new missiles.
Russia will spend its 70 billion dollars on the deployment of new mobile systems, the adoption of modernized missiles (project), new ICBMs, Project 955 Borei submarines, the development of a promising long-range aviation complex (), as well as extending the service life of the existing one strategic weapons.
The budget for 2011-2013, approved by the Russian State Duma at the end of 2010, provides for an increase in spending on the nuclear complex by almost 4 billion rubles. In 2010, expenses on the Russian nuclear weapons complex amounted to 18.8 billion rubles, in 2011 this figure increased to 26.9 billion rubles, in 2012 - to 27.5 billion rubles, and in 2013 this the figure will already be 30.3 billion rubles.
The increase in the pace of non-nuclear explosive experiments is also evidence that major world powers have entered a new phase of the nuclear arms race. Despite the desire to reduce the number of nuclear warheads, legally enshrined in the START-3 treaty, the United States and Russia have moved to qualitatively improve such weapons. This was facilitated, in particular, by the US decision to deploy a missile defense system in Europe.
In 2006, after visiting Novaya Zemlya, Sergei Ivanov, then the Russian Minister of Defense, said that the test site on the archipelago was maintained in constant readiness and nuclear tests could be resumed there at any time. However, he noted that some countries have not ratified the CTBT, which means that Russia, in the interests of its own security, will resume full-scale nuclear tests if necessary.
At the beginning of 1954, by a secret decision of the Presidium of the CPSU Central Committee and the order of the USSR Minister of Defense, Marshal N. Bulganin, it was decided to conduct secret corps exercises with the real use of atomic weapons at the Totsky training ground of the South Ural Military District. Leadership was entrusted to Marshal G.K. Zhukov. The exercises were entitled "Breakthrough of the enemy's prepared tactical defense with the use of nuclear weapons." But this is official, but the code name for the Totsk military exercises was peaceful and affectionate - “Snowball”. Preparation for the exercise lasted three months. By the end of summer, the huge battlefield was literally dotted with tens of thousands of kilometers of trenches, trenches and anti-tank ditches. We built hundreds of pillboxes, bunkers and dugouts.
Military formations of the Belarusian and South Ural military districts took part in the exercises. In June-July 1954, several divisions were transferred from the Brest area to the exercise area. Directly, judging by the documents, over 45,000 military personnel, 600 tanks and self-propelled artillery units, 500 guns and Katyusha rocket launchers, 600 armored personnel carriers, over 6,000 various automotive equipment, communications and logistics equipment took part in the exercises. Three Air Force divisions also took part in the exercises. A real atomic bomb was supposed to be dropped on a defense area codenamed “Banya” (with a mark of 195.1). Two days before the start of the exercises, N. Khrushchev, N. Bulganin and a group of scientists led by I. Kurchatov and Yu. Khariton came to the training ground. They carefully examined the built fortifications and gave advice to commanders on how to protect military personnel from an atomic explosion.
Five days before the atomic explosion, all troops were removed from the eight-kilometer restricted zone and took up their starting positions for attack and defense.
On the eve of the exercise, officers were shown a secret film about the operation of nuclear weapons. For this purpose, a special cinema pavilion was built, into which people were admitted only with a list and an identity card in the presence of the regiment commander and a KGB representative. Then they heard: “You have a great honor - for the first time in the world to act in real conditions of using a nuclear bomb.” In an old oak grove, surrounded by mixed forest, a lime cross measuring 100x100 m was made. The deviation from the target should not exceed 500 m. Troops were stationed all around.
On September 14, 1954, from 5 to 9 o'clock the movement of single vehicles and persons was prohibited. Movement was allowed only in teams led by an officer. From 9 to 11, all movement was prohibited altogether.
On Mount Medvezhya, 10.5 km from the intended epicenter of the explosion, sapper units built an observation post, which was a stationary observation tower the height of a three-story house. It featured large open loggias as viewing stands. Below there were open trenches and a concrete bunker with embrasures. There were closed shelters and three more observation points.
Early in the morning of September 14, the high military command, led by the First Deputy Minister of Defense and the head of the exercises, Marshal Zhukov, drove 40 ZIM vehicles from Totskoye-2 to the main observation point. As the carrier aircraft approached the target, Zhukov stepped out onto the open observation platform. He was followed by all the marshals, generals and invited observers. Then Marshals A. Vasilevsky, I. Konev, R. Malinovsky, I. Bagramyan, S. Budyonny, V. Sokolovsky, S. Timoshenko, K. Vershinin, P. Peresypkin, V. Kazakov and academicians Kurchatov and Khariton climbed the tower in the right wing of the viewing platform.
On the left are delegations of the armies of the Commonwealth countries, led by ministers of defense and marshals, including Marshal of Poland K. Rokossovsky, Minister of Defense of the People's Republic of China Peng De-Hui, Minister of Defense of Albania Enver Hoxha.
The viewing platform was equipped with loudspeaker communications. Zhukov heard reports on the meteorological situation at the test site. The weather was clear, warm, and a moderate wind was blowing.
The Marshal decided to start the exercises... The order was given to the “Eastern” to break through the prepared defense of the “Western”, for which they would use a strategic aviation group of bomber and fighter aircraft, an artillery division and tanks. At 8 o'clock the first stage of the Vostochny's breakthrough and offensive began.
Over loudspeaker installations located throughout the exercise area, it was announced that the nuclear-powered TU-4 aircraft, carrying a bomb, had taken off from one of the airfields of the Volga Military District, located in the Saratov region. (Two crews were selected to participate in the exercises: Major Kutyrchev and Captain Lyasnikov. Until the very last moment, the pilots did not know who would be the main one and who would be the backup. Kutyrchev’s crew, who already had experience in flight testing an atomic bomb at the Semipalatinsk test site, had an advantage .)
On the day of departure for the exercise, both crews prepared in full: nuclear bombs were suspended on each of the planes, the pilots simultaneously started the engines, and reported their readiness to complete the mission. Kutyrchev's crew received the command to take off, where Captain Kokorin was the bombardier, Romensky was the second pilot, and Babets was the navigator.
10 minutes before the atomic strike, on the signal "Lightning" (atomic alarm), all troops located outside the restricted zone (8 km) took shelters and shelters or lay face down in trenches, communication passages, put on gas masks, closed their eyes, that is According to the memo, we took personal safety measures. Everyone present at the Bear Mountain observation post put on gas masks with dark protective films on the eyepieces.
At 9:20 a.m., the carrier aircraft, accompanied by two Il-28 bombers and three MiG-17 fighters, flew up to the territory of the Totsky training ground and made the first reconnaissance approach to the target.
Having made sure that all calculations based on earthly landmarks were correct, the commander, Major V. Kutorchev, brought the plane into the designated corridor in zone No. 5 and on the second approach set down on a combat course.
The crew commander reported to Zhukov: “I see the object!” Ukov gave the order on the radio: “Complete the task!” The answer was: “I’m covering it, I threw it away!”
So, at 9 hours 33 minutes, the crew of the carrier aircraft, at a speed of almost 900 km/h from an altitude of 8000 meters, dropped the Tatyanka atomic bomb (a beautiful name that became a symbol of death) weighing 5 tons, with a power of 50 kilotons. According to the memoirs of Lieutenant General Osin, a similar bomb was previously tested at the Semipalatinsk test site in 1951. After 45 seconds, at an altitude of 358 meters, an explosion occurred with a deviation of 280 meters from the planned epicenter in the square. By the way, in Japan, during the explosions in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, bombs with a yield of 21 and 16 kilotons were used, and the explosions were carried out at an altitude of 600 and 700 meters.
At the moment the thick steel shell of the bomb ruptured, a loud deafening sound (thunder) arose, then a blinding flash in the form of a large fireball. The resulting ultra-high pressure of several trillion atmospheres compressed the surrounding airspace, so a vacuum arose in the center of the ball. At the same time, an ultra-high temperature of 8 to 25 thousand degrees was formed with ultra-high one-time, all-penetrating radiation in the air, on the surface and in the ground.
The explosive in the bomb turned into plasma and scattered in different directions. Uprooted trees, earthen soil with living vegetation, dust and soot weighing several thousand tons rose from the surface of the earth into the resulting vacuum hole.
As a result, a nuclear mushroom stalk with a diameter of 2.5 - 3 km was formed. At this time, it became difficult for people and animals to breathe. At the same time, a high-power shock wave was formed at the center of the explosion. It hit the carrier aircraft and the accompanying aircraft. They were thrown up 50 - 60 meters, although they had already moved 10 kilometers away from the explosion site. The shock sound wave shook the surface of the earth within a radius of up to 70 kilometers, first in one direction and then in the other direction. The shaking of the earth within a radius of 20 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion was the same as during an earthquake of 6-9 points. At this time, the reaction continued in the center of the explosion at an altitude of 358 meters. First, a cumulus white-gray spinning cloud formed around the fiery one, which began to turn into a huge mushroom cap, growing like a giant monster. Uplifted trees three girths thick “floated” in it. The mushroom cap shimmered with multi-colored flowers and at an altitude of 1.5-3 km its diameter was 3-5 km. Then it turned white-gray, rose to 10 km and began to move east at a speed of 90 km/h. On the ground, within a radius of up to 3 km from the epicenter, a fire tornado arose, which caused severe fires within a radius of 11 km from the explosion. The radiation caused radioactive contamination of the air, land, water, experimental animals, equipment and, most importantly, people.
Zhukov and the observers were at the observation post at the time of the explosion. A bright flash burned everyone's faces. Then there were two powerful impacts: one from a bomb explosion, and the second reflected from the ground. The movement of the feather grass showed how the shock wave was going. Many had their caps torn off, but neither Zhukov nor Konev even looked back. Zhukov gazed intently at the course and consequences of the nuclear explosion.
5 minutes after the nuclear explosion, artillery preparation began, followed by a bomber strike. Guns and mortars of various calibers, Katyushas, tanks, self-propelled guns began to speak. More shells and bombs were fired that day than during the storming of Berlin.
An hour after the explosion, which changed the landscape of the training ground beyond recognition, infantry in gas masks and armored vehicles walked through the epicenter. To protect against light radiation, the fighters were recommended to wear an extra set of underwear. That's all! Almost none of the test participants knew then what the dangers of radioactive contamination were. For reasons of secrecy, no checks or examinations of the military and the population were carried out. On the contrary, all participants in the exercises were required to sign a non-disclosure of state and military secrets for a period of 25 years.
The pilots who dropped a nuclear bomb were awarded a Pobeda car for successfully completing this task. At the debriefing of the exercises, crew commander Vasily Kutyrchev received the Order of Lenin and, ahead of schedule, the rank of colonel from the hands of Bulganin.
"...In accordance with the plan of research and experimental work, in recent days a test of one of the types of atomic weapons was carried out in the Soviet Union, the purpose of which was to study the effect of a nuclear explosion. The test obtained valuable results that will help Soviet scientists and engineers successfully solve problems on protection against atomic attack."
This TASS message was published in Pravda on September 17, 1954. Three days after military exercises with the first use of atomic weapons, held at the Totsky training ground in the Orenburg region. It was these teachings that were hidden behind this vague formulation.
And not a word about the fact that the tests, in fact, were carried out with the participation of soldiers and officers, civilians who, in essence, performed an unprecedented sacrificial feat in the name of the future of peace and life on earth. But then they themselves still knew about it.
Now it is difficult to judge how justified such sacrifices were, because many people subsequently died from radiation sickness. But one thing is obvious - they despised death, fear and saved the world from nuclear madness.
