Why did the USSR postpone its project and create an analogue of US nuclear weapons

In the early 1990s, all perestroika publications began to shout at once: they say that the USSR stole the atomic bomb project from the United States. Say, the “scoop” itself was weak-minded, could only steal and copy. And without America, I would not have made either bombs or missiles. This thesis was indirectly confirmed by intelligence memoirists, but the still secret Soviet nuclear scientists simply could not refute. In light of the recent American testing of the B61-12 atomic bomb, it is worth reflecting on the ominous events of August 1945 and 1949.

70 years ago, a few days before the atomic bomb exploded over Hiroshima, the newly minted American President Truman decided to short-circuit Stalin. And to make him more accommodating at the Potsdam Conference, where the heads of the three victorious powers from July 17 to August 2, 1945 had to agree on the borders of Europe.

The explosive atmosphere of Potsdam

The fight was going to be serious. The United States and Great Britain have already developed a plan for the division of Germany into several states, mainly agricultural. But suddenly Soviet leader On Victory Day, he declared that the USSR "is not going to dismember or destroy Germany." And in Potsdam he defeated all the arguments of the British Prime Minister Churchill, presented territorial claims to Turkey, which infuriated the Western allies. But, most importantly, the United States and Great Britain needed to prevent the USSR from entering the war with Japan before August 9.

Let me remind you that the leaders of the "Big Three" agreed in Yalta in the winter that the redistribution of borders would be considered valid only if Stalin complied with this deadline. The winner in the war with the Japanese received the laurels of the winner throughout the Second World War, since at the time of the defeat of Hitler, about 60 countries had already declared war on Japan. But the samurai continued to live in China, attack the Asian possessions of the British, French, Dutch, Americans and were not going to capitulate.
Truman dreamed of becoming famous as the ancestor of the era of US dominance on the planet and was sure that he had control over everyone. On July 16, the day before the Potsdam Conference, the world's first Trinity atomic bomb was tested in a desert region of New Mexico. On July 24, the President of the United States, as if by the way, informed Stalin that the United States "has created a new weapon of extraordinary destructive power". But Stalin did not bat an eyelid. Truman and Churchill decided that the Soviet leader did not even understand what he was talking about. However, in the evening, according to Marshal Zhukov, Stalin laughed and said to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Molotov: "It will be necessary today to talk with Kurchatov about speeding up our work.
And Truman ordered that a bomb be dropped over Japan as soon as possible, but only after he left Potsdam.

Monument to Igor KURCHATOV

Note
Igor Kurchatov was the coordinator of all work on nuclear topics and an intermediary between scientists and the country's leadership. He was the only one who had access to intelligence materials. The creation of the atomic bomb was led by Julius Khariton. In 1992, in an interview, he said the phrase "... our first atomic bomb is a copy of the American one." Taken out of context, it became the only argument for the Depressa hysteria that "the Russians stole the secret of the atomic bomb from the Americans." And the words of the academician that "the calculations of our scientists on one of the designs gave results similar to the American ones" have sunk into oblivion.

Burning August in the East

* On August 6, 1945, in the USA, Enola Gay - a Boeing B-29 strategic bomber with an atomic bomb "Kid" - was escorted to a combat sortie with a prayer service. Pressing the button - and tens of thousands of Japanese instantly turned into ashes, flying up with a cloud over Hiroshima. Tens of thousands more died from the shock wave. Hundreds of thousands of wounded, burned, affected by radiation.

* On August 9, the Yankees already incinerated Nagasaki. As a result of the bombing of the two cities, almost half a million people died. And only one American went mad from remorse of conscience - the commander of a weather reconnaissance aircraft Claude Etherly who visited Hiroshima after the bombing.
* Recently found new evidence of Japan's attempt to create its own atomic bomb: in archival documents 1944 describes equipment for uranium enrichment. In parallel, the Japanese were developing two nuclear projects.
* The bloodless USSR declared war on Japan on time. Having managed to build roads, ferries and transfer over 400 thousand people and a huge amount of equipment to the Far East. On the night of August 8-9, 1945, the troops, together with Pacific Fleet began hostilities against Japanese troops on a front stretching over 5,000 km. Japan's surrender was signed on September 2, 1945 aboard the USS Missouri. Second World War ended with the victory of the Soviet Union and the allies.

"Two bombs fell - and the war was over."
Vannivar BUSH, member of the US nuclear program

Do you remember how it all started?

On August 29, 1939, Einstein, in his famous letter to Roosevelt, announced that Nazi Germany had been actively researching the fission of uranium for a year, which could result in an atomic bomb. In November, Roosevelt thanked Einstein for the information and announced the start of the American project, which was named the "Manhattan Project" on September 17, 1943.

This picture revealed many spy secrets. Robert Oppenheimer, physicist's wife Elsa and Albert EINSTEIN, Margarita KONENKOVA, EINSTEIN's adopted daughter Margot

In the USSR, work in the field of nuclear energy started in 1932. In documents declassified six years ago dated March 5, 1938, scientists asked Molotov to provide the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology with two grams of radium and "to propose to the People's Commissariat of the USSR, under whose jurisdiction we have now passed, to create all conditions for the completion of the construction of the cyclotron at the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology by January 1, 1939." And the request was granted. Only talented scientists who were not involved in the Soviet atomic project in the 1940s sounded the alarm that the West was closely occupied with atomic research, while we, they say, were doing nothing. But in connection with the Second World War going on at our borders, only peaceful atomic research was suspended. Full information about secret projects marked "32ss", the lion's share of which is not declassified, only Stalin and Beria.

He himself came

The pacifist Einstein became nervous, realizing what a universal horror he had provoked. If the United States creates a hell of a bomb, then they will certainly use it. The 29-year-old professor understood this too. Klaus Fuchs who emigrated from Nazi Germany and at the end of 1940, he began working in England on the project of the British atomic bomb Tube Alloys (Pipe Alloy). The communist guy was worried that the United States and England, united against Hitler, were jointly developing such a formidable weapon, but keeping it a secret from the Soviet Union. The only, as he believed, the guarantor that the atom should serve peaceful life on the planet.

When the Nazis approached Moscow, Fuchs himself came to our embassy in Great Britain and said that a plant was being built in Wales to test the theoretical methods for the separation of uranium isotopes, and he was ready to transfer information free of charge. But how?

Scout feat

A 27-year-old machine tool engineer came to meet Fuchs in a bar Vladimir Barkovsky, who recently graduated from the SEON - School for Special Purposes trained liaison officers for foreign intelligence officers. Things went swimmingly. Barkovsky held a glass of beer and a magazine with photos of famous athletes.
- Joe Louis is the best boxer in the world! - as if in ecstasy, he shouted and began to show everyone his photo.
"No, Jackie Brown is the best of all time," Klaus answered back. After arguing loudly, the young people went out into the street. Barkovsky's operational pseudonym is Dan - this was the first meeting with an agent in his life. We agreed to call the atomic bomb "thing". Fuchs gave out information in an avalanche until he realized that the contactee was nothing from his scientific speech does not understand.
- What are you going to transmit? Fuchs asked. - I will work only with an equal. And you read at least an American textbook on atomic physics.

The scout slept for two or three hours a day for two months, mastered the topic, studied the latest publications, but could not freely operate with terms in a conversation - there were no transcriptions in the textbooks. And Klaus sent him back. But Moscow was in a hurry. Dan compiled a "conversational" profile encyclopedia and spoke for a week of training with an interpreter for 16 hours a day. The matter was small - to convince Fuchs to meet with him again. Both risked death. Beria suspected that disinformation was being driven from London to the USSR through Deng, so that during the “war of engines”, which we no longer had enough, to distract the country to create a counterweight to new weapons, but if it exists, you can’t hesitate. And Fuchs passed a tough test in the "Manhattan Project" Robert Oppenheimer. And in 1943 he suddenly disappeared for a long time.

CIA vs USSR

* By the summer of 1948, the Chariotir plan appeared in the United States. For 30 days, the Yankees wanted to drop 133 atomic bombs on 70 Soviet cities. Of these, eight - to Moscow and seven to Leningrad. And then in two years another 200 atomic and 250 thousand conventional bombs.
* On December 19, 1949, the Committee of Chiefs of Staff approved the Dropshot plan, followed by the Trojan plan for a preventive war against the USSR and our allies. On January 1, 1950, the United States had 840 strategic bombers in service and 1,350 in reserve, over 320 atomic bombs. Of these, 300 were planned to be dropped on 100 Soviet cities. They calculated that 6-7 million Soviet citizens would be killed in 6,000 sorties.

Why weren't we bombed

* On August 29, 1949, the first Soviet atomic bomb RDS-1 was tested at the Semipalatinsk test site.
* On September 25, 1949, TASS reported: “ Soviet Union mastered the secret of atomic weapons back in 1947. ... The Soviet government, despite the fact that it has atomic weapons, stands and intends to stand in the future on its old position of unconditional prohibition of the use of atomic weapons. For the US, it was like a bolt from the blue. Their intelligence failed.
The Committee of Chiefs of Staff has finished off the power. The test in the headquarters game gave an unexpected result: taking into account the defense capability of the USSR, the maximum probability of achieving goals was only 70 percent, and the smallest losses of bombers were 53 percent. The group that bombed Nuremberg in March 1944 mutinied, losing only 11.82 percent of their aircraft. She was supported by the entire flight crew at the bases of England. What happens if more than half of the pilots die?

Bear in mind
Recently it became known that the elegant and incredibly attractive intelligence officer Margarita Konenkova, the wife of a Soviet sculptor who became last love brilliant physicist.
Klaus and Vladimir met in March 1944 already across the ocean. This time, Dan passed the Fuchs exam, outlined and handed over to the Center almost 10 thousand pages of their conversations and personally made duplicate keys for the scientist to open the safes, since Moscow requested copies of a number of original documents.

Whose is it, RDS-1?

Only 12 people in the country knew about the secret decree “On the organization of work on uranium” issued in September 1942. It ordered to explore different options for creating an atomic bomb. Scientists debated whether plutonium was a fissile element. The information received from Fuchs helped to weed out dead-end options and concentrate on original projects.

The uranium plant in the mountains of Tajikistan was already operating in 1945. In August 1946, in the Urals of Kyshtym, they began to dig a pit for a nuclear reactor. And on June 8, 1948, a nuclear reactor was first launched to produce weapons-grade plutonium - the "stuffing" for the bomb. He produced 100 grams per day. And then the country's leadership decided to create a charge according to the American scheme. They say that there is no time for the risk of testing a completely new design, the country's security is at stake.
- It cannot be said that our first atomic charge was a copy of the American one. What does it mean to "steal a bomb" anyway? - says the famous designer of nuclear weapons Arkady Brish. - Thanks to intelligence, we only knew its scheme, and not design drawings and calculations. The monument at the Alamogordo training ground - this is the very scheme. So what? Non-nuclear states grabbed tape measures, measured the sculpture and rushed to make bombs? Technologies for creating a charge according to this scheme are completely domestic. They dictated a number of design differences. For the Americans, the charge was fired in the barrel, and due to its compression, a chain reaction began. Our scientists used a ball compression instead of a barrel. This is a more complex design, but it gave better efficiency.

The monument to the first American bomb in Alamogordo was erected in full size according to the scheme already known to our intelligence

And already on the second test in 1951 of the "home-grown" RDS-2 bomb, Soviet scientists proved that they had wiped their noses at the Americans. The charge was twice as powerful and at the same time twice as light as that created according to the American scheme.

Estimate!
In 1945, the book "Atomic Energy for Military Purposes" was published in the United States. The Americans were sure that it would not be able to help us create an atomic bomb even in 15 years, since the entire cycle of its creation - from theory to industrial implementation - is too complicated.

History of failure and triumph

On July 6, 1945, the United States conducted the first-ever test of an atomic weapon in the desert of New Mexico in the utmost secrecy. US President G. Truman was shocked because he suddenly felt like the "Lord of the World." After all, even as a senator, and then vice president, he could not even imagine, did not know and did not guess that billions of dollars were secretly spent on the creation of atomic weapons.

However, despite the strictest secrecy, the American atomic “Manhattan Project” (“US Army, mailbox 1663”) was not a secret for Soviet foreign intelligence, which, back in 1941, received from London information about the attempts of a group of American scientists to create an “explosive” great strength, the so-called. "uranium bomb" (originally called an atomic weapon).

I. Stalin had long been aware of the work that was being done in the USA and Great Britain to create nuclear weapons. And when in August 1949 the Soviet Union exploded its own atomic bomb, both the United States and Great Britain were shocked, because they believed that this could happen no earlier than 1955-1957. American monopoly on nuclear weapon no longer existed!

How is it possible for the USSR, a country that had just endured a terrible 4 years of war, a country that was in ruins, with blown up enterprises and factories, destroyed cities, burned villages, a country that lost more than 30 million people, a country of the Gulag, barracks, dugouts, post-war famine and bread on the cards, was able not only to create an atomic bomb in the shortest possible time, but also to assert its military power around the world?

In the most difficult conditions of the post-war economy, nuclear weapons in the USSR were created by the incredible, heroic work of both Soviet scientists and the entire people. And, of course, the merit of foreign intelligence is the clear and timely drawing of the attention of the political leadership of the country, and “personally Comrade Stalin” (who was often extremely skeptical of intelligence) to the ongoing work in the West to develop atomic weapons.

The leadership of foreign intelligence set clear tasks for all agents and employees - to identify countries that are conducting practical work on the creation of atomic weapons; urgently informing the Center about the content of these works and acquiring through agents the necessary scientific and technical information that could facilitate the creation of such weapons in the USSR.

was created and special unit scientific and technical intelligence, the task was set to identify all the information related to the problem of creating a "uranium bomb".

It should be noted that the problem of splitting the atomic nucleus and obtaining a new source of atomic energy, scientists from Germany, England, the USA, France and other countries have been closely involved since 1939. Similar work was carried out in the Soviet Union by nuclear scientists Ya. Zel'dovich, Yu. Khariton and others. However, the outbreak of war and the evacuation of scientific institutes interrupted work on the creation of atomic weapons in our country.

Unfortunately, for a long time the task of obtaining atomic secrets was not singled out among foreign intelligence priorities , and it was not possible for the Soviet residency in the United States to achieve tangible results for a long time - it was very difficult to overcome the powerful wall of secrecy of the project, and only at the end of 1941 was information transmitted from New York that American professors Urey, Bragg and Fowler had left for London to work "over an explosive of enormous power."

The information of the London residency also aroused the distrust of Lavrenty Beria, who believed that the “enemies” were deliberately “suggesting disinformation” in order to force the USSR into war time go to enormous expenses and thereby weaken the country's defense capability.

In February 1942, front-line scouts captured German officer, in whose briefcase a notebook with incomprehensible entries was found. The notebook is sent to the People's Commissariat of Defense, and from there - to the Commissioner for Science of the State Defense Committee. It was found that we are talking about the plans of Nazi Germany to create atomic (nuclear) weapons.

And only in March 1942, scientific and technical intelligence informs I. Stalin about the reality of creating atomic weapons and proposes to form a scientific advisory council under the GKO to coordinate work.

In November 1943, the Foreign Intelligence Center received a message that a number of leading British scientists, including Klaus Fuchs, a German émigré and member of the German Communist Party, had left for the United States.

K. Fuchs was recruited and cooperated out of a desire to neutralize the efforts Nazi Germany on the creation of nuclear weapons, he handed over to the Soviet side a number of calculations for nuclear fission and the creation of an atomic bomb.

In total, 7 valuable materials were received from K. Fuchs in 1941-1943, and in February 1944, in New York, he handed over copies of his theoretical works, which allowed the Soviet Union to shorten the period for creating atomic weapons from three to ten years and get ahead of the United States in creating hydrogen weapons.

In 1944-1945 Soviet intelligence managed to "arrange" the "regular supply" of the Center with documentary information, and it was she who allowed Moscow to keep abreast of all the work that was carried out in the United States to create a "super-bomb".

Despite the fact that foreign intelligence is not credited with a leading role in the creation of atomic weapons in the USSR, nevertheless, its important role recognized by the scientists themselves. From 1943 until the test of the first American atomic bomb in 1945, intelligence received several thousand sheets of classified documentary information.

I.V. Kurchatov, to whom all the materials were sent, wrote that "... intelligence provided very rich and instructive material containing theoretically important indications, and along with the methods and schemes being developed by Soviet scientists, possibilities were indicated that were not considered ...".

So, the role of foreign intelligence in the development of the "atomic project" was not only in collecting valuable information and recruiting agents.

Perhaps the most important thing is that she managed to attract the serious attention of the country's leadership and Stalin personally to the problem of creating atomic weapons in the West and thereby initiate similar work in the USSR.

It is believed that it was thanks to the timely information received by Academician I.V. Kurchatov and his group managed to avoid big mistakes and dead ends and create the atomic bomb in just three years, while the United States spent more than five years on it, spending five billion dollars.

But we note that intelligence materials give the maximum effect only if they reach exactly those people who can understand, evaluate and use them correctly. And in the USSR, intelligence work was structured in such a way that the information received by the intelligence services could be implemented into decisions only after passing "through the office" of Stalin, who held absolutely all important decisions under his personal control, and this was precisely the "basis of effectiveness" of his unlimited power .

Information from agents came in the form of scientific reports and complex mathematical calculations, copies of research, and only highly qualified mathematicians, physicists and chemists could understand these materials. The reports lay unread in the safes of the NKVD for more than a year, and only in May-June 1942, Stalin received a brief oral report on the atomic bomb, presented by L. Beria.

Thus, only scientists high level could understand scientific materials and reports… And it happened…

L.P. Beria informed Stalin of the intelligence findings, and read a letter from physicists "much more popular than the NKVD", explaining what an atomic bomb was and why Germany or the US might soon be able to manufacture one. They say that Stalin, walking around his office for a bit, thought and said: “We must do it!”.

Stalin and Kurchatov - "leader of the country" and "scientific manager"

Appointments to important state or party posts have always been the monopoly of Stalin, as the absolute leader of the state, and their formalization as decisions of the Politburo, State Defense Committee or the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR was only a formality.

As already noted, research on the mastery of atomic energy was actively conducted by Soviet scientists back in the thirties, and even then they were considered a priority.

In 1933, the First All-Union Conference on Nuclear Physics was held with the invitation of foreign scientists, and in 1938, under the President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, a commission was formed on atomic nucleus. However, after the start of the war, work on the uranium problem was suspended, and scientists were involved in solving more pressing problems.

The organizational foundations of the USSR atomic project were laid by a series of Decrees of the State Defense Committee (GKO) in 1942-1945, and on February 11, 1943, Stalin signed the decision "On the program of work for the creation of an atomic bomb." The general management of the problem was entrusted to V.M. Molotov and it is believed that it was Molotov who personally introduced Igor Vasilievich Kurchatov to Stalin, and it was expert opinion Kurchatov, according to intelligence documents, was the beginning of the creation of an atomic bomb in the USSR.

The atomic bomb program required its own "scientific leader" and Stalin was well aware that this should be an authoritative and prominent scientist. Consultations on a possible leader were held, including personally by L. Beria - the chosen "leader from scientists" had to get acquainted with almost two thousand pages exclusively scientific materials, consisting of formulas, diagrams, calculations and explanations on English language. Therefore, any physicist who would be entrusted with the leadership of the problem would have to work for the first months in the top-secret archives of the NKVD, and not in a quiet laboratory.

On March 10, 1943, Stalin appointed Igor Kurchatov to the post of scientific director of work on the use of atomic energy in the USSR, endowing Kurchatov with emergency powers to mobilize the human and material resources necessary to solve the problem. Throughout March 1943, without leaving the room for days, I.V. Kurchatov studied numerous intelligence documents in the NKVD, giving an expert opinion on 237 scientific papers!

But… Neither I.V. Kurchatov, nor his colleagues admitted to intelligence secrets, did not have the right to disclose the sources of their knowledge, and as both historians and those who worked in this project say, although they were silent for a very long time, which supposedly both Kurchatov and his colleagues had to give data obtained in the intelligence department of the NKVD, for ... their own discoveries, which created for them a "halo of genius" and, paradoxically as it sounds, on the whole benefited the cause! It was a clearly and subtly calculated psychological move - everyone dreamed and strove to work under the auspices of a brilliant scientist!

Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov assembles a team, using very limited financial resources, organizes the necessary theoretical and experimental studies, analyzes intelligence data and informs the government about the status of work and the blatant discrepancy between goals and means. At that time, 100 people were involved in the nuclear project in the USSR, and 50 thousand in the USA!

The high authority of Kurchatov in the government also helped, he knew how to defend the interests of the cause and its executors in the highest state spheres, and to be tolerant of manifestations of incompetence of the “supervising side”, unless, of course, it really interfered with the research process. In addition, he could tell Stalin a lot ... There is a legend that when the Americans detonated the atomic bomb, Stalin immediately called Beria and Kurchatov and asked: “Well, comrade Kurchatov, did your scientists miss the bomb?” “Don’t miss ..., Comrade Stalin,” Igor Vasilyevich answered boldly, “... we stood in lines!”

And Stalin, in a matter of days, makes cardinal decisions that determined the development of nuclear weapons, the nuclear industry and all science in Russia for many decades. But these decisions were prepared precisely by Kurchatov and his "team" and never in the history of the world did the authorities transfer the "reins of power" to the hands of scientists to such an extent. For 17 years I.V. Kurchatov turned Russia into a world superpower.

Kurchatov clearly and clearly saw the main path leading to the goal, and confidently walked along it, but, at the same time, supported the breadth of the search, relying on the youth of Academician Ioffe's school: A.P. Aleksandrova, A.I. Alikhanova, L.A. Artsimovich, I.K. Kikoin. And, most importantly, he pays special attention to the creation of an atomic bomb, and here his support is Yu.B. Khariton, Ya.B. Zeldovich, I.E. Tamm and A.D. Sakharov.

Possessing the broadest scientific outlook and unique organizational skills, the strength of his convictions, I.V. Kurchatov was able in a short time to reorient entire scientific teams to work in new directions for them. With industrial facilities it was easier for him - an order from above was enough. But scientists were involved precisely for creative work, which can be carried out on orders, but it will not be effective.

July 19, 1948 under the leadership of I.V. Kurchatov, the launch of a nuclear reactor was started from zero, and on June 22 its power reached its design value of 100 MW. The construction of the reactor took less than two years, and the development and design of the reactor took about the same time. In less than 4 years, a nuclear reactor was developed and put into operation in the USSR ...

And the first and successful test of the first Soviet atomic bomb was carried out at the test site in the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan on August 29, 1949 ...

I. Stalin, satisfied that the American monopoly in the field of the atomic bomb does not exist, allegedly remarked: "If we were late for one to a year and a half, then we would probably try this charge on ourselves."

What worked here - fear of the all-powerful Stalin and Beria? Yes and no... But, most likely, there was an opportunity to prove himself as a scientist, pride in the country, for the fact that it was he who was given the right and opportunity to create an atomic bomb, thereby strengthening the country's defense capability.

And after successful tests, the entire team received both high government awards and large cash prizes, cars, summer cottages, apartments. Let me remind you that it was 1949, and half the country lay in ruins. So the government also made another "psychological move" - ​​encouraging not only the best, and not only scientists, but almost everyone who took part in the work - from academics to workers.

I.V. Kurchatov was the initiator of the creation of secret scientific centers in Arzamas, Obninsk, Dubna, Dmitrovgrad, Snezhinsk, industrial and scientific nuclear centers of the Urals and Siberia, it was he who "stimulated the birth" of the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology and the Moscow Engineering Physics Institute, the Research Institute of Nuclear Physics Moscow State University, was able to strengthen and reorient the Physics Department of Moscow State University. And it was these centers, “closed cities”, that made it possible in Soviet times, albeit “supervised”, but also quite comfortably, to live its “inhabitants”, which also stimulated the development of industry and education - many sought to study in prestigious universities and then work on these "mailboxes".

L.P. Beria - an "effective manager"?

On August 20, 1945, Stalin signed Decree No. 9887 "On the Special Committee", which consisted of key figures from the party and state apparatus. L.P. was appointed Chairman of the Committee. Beria, and the Special Committee was entrusted with all the leadership in organizing the development and production of atomic bombs, all activities for the use of atomic energy in the USSR: research work, exploration of uranium mining deposits and the creation of an atomic industry.

On August 30, 1945, the First Main Directorate was also created, which was entrusted with the direct management of research, design, engineering organizations and enterprises for the use of atomic energy and the production of atomic bombs.

The most important component of the uranium problem was a clear, but incredibly difficult plan - to start an intensified search for uranium deposits and organize its mining. The First Main Geological Exploration Directorate was created, which was entrusted with the organization and management of special geological prospecting and exploration work on uranium on the territory of the USSR.

An important role in the organization of the country's nuclear industry belonged to the State Planning Committee of the USSR and ... the GULAG, or rather, the Main Directorate of Camps for Mining and Metallurgical Enterprises (GULGMP), which is part of its "system".

The NKVD, through its representatives authorized by the Council of Ministers, clearly and ruthlessly controlled the implementation of the decisions of the Special Committee and the Government by the heads of enterprises and construction projects.

L.P. Beria, since 1944, oversees all work and research related to the creation of atomic weapons, while demonstrating outstanding organizational skills.

When it turned out that there was a catastrophic lack of ... physicists to complete the tasks of the atomic project, Beria immediately ordered to look for "scientists" in the Gulag camps. Yesterday's prisoners, who were dying of exhaustion and overwork, were sent to specially created "sharashki" - scientific prisons. And so that they are not talked about, but it was they who saved the lives of many scientists, in particular, the teacher of physics A.S. Solzhenitsyn. "Sharashki" was passed by A. Tupolev, and S.P., who was dying in the mines of Kolyma. Korolev and many other scientists.

But even after these emergency measures, there were still not enough scientists - the Technical Council of the Special Committee under the USSR Council of Ministers was in charge of the fate of each specialist.

And in general, several scientists were engaged in nuclear physics, and L. Beria quickly drew conclusions - in 1945, a decision was made to create special departments in a number of universities, and then to create special universities. At the same time, the leaders who were responsible for higher education in the USSR were given ... ten days to "correct shortcomings in the training of physicists in the atomic nucleus and engineers of related specialties."

However, "management efficiency" of Beria, "according to rumors", was such. Arriving somewhere, he called the project managers or in general all scientists and engineers and asked - how much time is required to complete such and such a project. "Three months," they answered him. “A month,” said Beria, and, flashing his pince-nez, silently left. The project was handed over on time, or even in three weeks ... Nobody wanted to "become camp dust" ...

But everyone knew that L. Beria tried to delve into the work in detail, was extremely demanding of his subordinates and mercilessly parted with negligent workers. The world-famous physicist Pyotr Kapitsa "for sabotage" (although he did it "scientifically elegant", but Beria needed not "empty theorizing", but the result) was removed from the "atomic project" and deprived of the post of director of the Institute of Physical Problems.

A kind of "merit" L.P. Beria, as an "effective government manager" that in three and a half years "since clean slate"and" in an open field "in a war-torn country was created in the highest degree science-intensive nuclear industry.

And here was not only people's fear of the possibility of being in the gold mines of Kolyma or the mines of Vorkuta. Here there was pride in one's work, and enthusiasm, and personal responsibility for the security of the country, a desire to do everything as best as possible and "not out of fear, but out of conscience."

Yes, and L. Beria was well aware that he himself could get into the "millstones of the Gulag" if he failed the project - Stalin would not forgive him for this. Naturally L.P. Beria was able to show his unique abilities organizer and manager" only with incredible opportunities and power.

Although I.V. Kurchatov subsequently wrote that "... Beria oversaw all the work and research related to the creation of atomic weapons, while demonstrating outstanding organizational skills, and if it were not for him, Beria, there would be no bombs ...". Like it or not... But all the same - the "atomic project of the USSR" was given too high a price...

Modern nuclear power industry in Russia

In November 2005, ex-Prime Minister and ex-Presidential Plenipotentiary in the Volga District Sergey Kiriyenko headed the Federal Atomic Energy Agency of Russia (Rosatom), since December 2007 - CEO State Corporation "Rosatom".

As experts noted, the reshuffle of the leadership in Rosatom is a factor indicating that the attention of the Government of the Russian Federation to the development of the nuclear industry and energy has increased, and urgent, serious and prompt reforms are needed.

Academician Yevgeny Velikhov, President of the Russian Scientific Center “Kurchatov Institute”, commented on the appointment of Sergei Kiriyenko in the following way: “There is nothing terrible in the fact that Kiriyenko is not a nuclear scientist, no. The main thing is that he is a manager and a person with a strategic vision not only for the industry, but also for the economy as a whole. There is an energy crisis in the world, carbon prices are rising, and a golden age is coming for nuclear energy, but nothing is developing in our country. I hope Kiriyenko will not miss this chance.” Alas, the academician was deeply mistaken ...

With the advent of S. Kiriyenko to the post of head of Rosatom, it was expected that after four years of the failed leadership of Alexander Rumyantsev, the nuclear industry would face serious changes for the better. But, alas, the Russian nuclear power industry remains (in terms of the efficiency of using its capacities) at the 2003 level.

Sergei Kiriyenko and “his team” did not turn the tide, inefficient managerial decisions led to serious financial losses in the industry and direct losses of budget investments, and disrupted control over the work schedule in the nuclear industry.

The leadership of Rosatom did practically nothing to restore the construction and installation complex of the nuclear power industry, the program for the construction and completion of nuclear power plants in Russia was actually disrupted, the experimental base of the research institutes of the industry was almost completely collapsed, work on the creation of new technologies and equipment for the nuclear fuel cycle was frozen, there are no plans for reconstruction and construction of new research reactors. According to experts, possible losses associated with inefficient management and inept use of investment funds in Rosatom exceed 36 billion dollars.

The leader, the manager who makes key decisions, must understand the essence of what is happening, and not only at the organizational level, but also at all interrelated economic and technological issues and decisions made, and not only at the level of central office but also at the level of line units. Otherwise, he becomes a hostage to his inner circle, which happened in Rosatom.

The quality of management in Rosatom is of undoubted concern, since the corporation itself arose as a result of a “general merger” of enterprises that have not yet been integrated into a single whole.

"Cadres decide everything!" - this phrase is attributed to Stalin. But in the leadership of the industry, institutes and enterprises, among the employees of the service of chief engineers, logistics workers responsible for the range and quality of the supplied materials and equipment of the nuclear industry, one can meet ... philosophers, teachers, pharmacists, supervised the work on uranium mining (until 2012 ) ... a veterinarian by education. What can be said? Ambiguous and incompetent decisions in strategically important areas of the nuclear industry are simply inevitable, and safety aspects of the operation of nuclear-hazardous facilities of the Rosatom system are especially vulnerable.

In addition, the leadership of Rosatom pursues a policy of informational secrecy of the industry, business leaders are prohibited from making public comments in the media about the state of affairs not only in the industry, but also at their enterprise, and many negative trends are categorically closed for public discussion.

At one time, only an accident on Chernobyl nuclear power plant forced to make the nuclear industry as open as possible and in the current conditions it is necessary to ensure its no less transparency. And it's not just about security issues and warning the population about a possible threat, but also about Rosatom's inefficient corporate governance, which, of course, the management does not want to admit. Clear control is needed - from public expertise to the introduction of an "institute of independent directors" in state-owned companies in the industry, strict and constant control is required from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade, Rostekhnadzor and the Accounts Chamber.

The personnel problem remains one of the main ones for Russian nuclear scientists, the management of enterprises has to deal with a situation where there is not enough qualified labor to fulfill orders.

The situation with personnel for the nuclear industry was affected by the “preferences” of university applicants recent years, when the competition for natural sciences and engineering professions has sharply decreased, and for specialties such as "economics", "management", "jurisprudence" - on the contrary, it has increased and students study not to gain knowledge, but to obtain a diploma.

It was only a few years ago that Russian nuclear scientists seriously took up solving this problem of personnel training. TVEL Corporation, a manufacturer of nuclear fuel, pays the best students of the Moscow Faculty of Engineering and Physics, who study in specialties specialized for the corporation, scholarships in the amount of 6 to 10 minimum wages... And that's all for now...

Incompetence in management of most industries, education, science, healthcare, social sphere in the Russian Federation, as in a mirror, they were also reflected in Rosatom. But nuclear power plants and related enterprises are not factories for the production of pans. Don't forget Chernobyl... April 25, 1986... Just over 25 years have passed...

A.A. Kazdym
Candidate of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences
Academician International Academy Sciences
Member of MOIP

The question of the founders of the first Soviet nuclear bomb quite contradictory and requires a more detailed study, but about who in reality father of the Soviet atomic bomb, there are several entrenched opinions. Most physicists and historians believe that the main contribution to the creation of Soviet nuclear weapons was made by Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov. However, some express the opinion that without Yuli Borisovich Khariton, the founder of Arzamas-16 and the creator of the industrial basis for obtaining enriched fissile isotopes, the first test of this type of weapon in the Soviet Union would have dragged on for several more years.

Consider the historical sequence of research and development work to create a practical sample of the atomic bomb, leaving aside theoretical studies fissile materials and conditions for the occurrence chain reaction, without which a nuclear explosion is impossible.

For the first time, a series of applications for obtaining copyright certificates for the invention (patents) of the atomic bomb was filed in 1940 by employees of the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology F. Lange, V. Spinel and V. Maslov. The authors considered issues and proposed solutions for the enrichment of uranium and its use as an explosive. The proposed bomb had a classic detonation scheme (gun type), which was later, with some modifications, used to initiate a nuclear explosion in American uranium-based nuclear bombs.

Great Patriotic War slowed down theoretical and experimental research in the field of nuclear physics, and major centers(Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology and Radium Institute - Leningrad) ceased their activities and were partially evacuated.

Beginning in September 1941, the intelligence agencies of the NKVD and the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Red Army began to receive an increasing amount of information about the special interest shown in the military circles of Great Britain in the development of explosives based on fissile isotopes. In May 1942, the Main Intelligence Directorate, summarizing the materials received, reported to the State Defense Committee (GKO) on the military purpose of ongoing nuclear research.

Around the same time, Lieutenant Technician Georgy Nikolayevich Flerov, who in 1940 was one of the discoverers of spontaneous fission of uranium nuclei, wrote a letter personally to I.V. Stalin. In his message, the future academician, one of the creators of Soviet nuclear weapons, draws attention to the fact that publications on works related to the fission of the atomic nucleus have disappeared from the scientific press in Germany, Great Britain and the United States. According to the scientist, this may indicate the reorientation of "pure" science in the practical military field.

In October-November 1942, the foreign intelligence service of the NKVD reported to L.P. Beria, all available information about work in the field of nuclear research, obtained by illegal intelligence officers in England and the USA, on the basis of which the People's Commissar writes a memorandum to the head of state.

At the end of September 1942, I.V. Stalin signs the resolution of the State Defense Committee on the resumption and intensification of "works on uranium", and in February 1943, after studying the materials submitted by L.P. Beria, a decision is made to transfer all research on the creation of nuclear weapons (atomic bombs) into a "practical channel". General management and coordination of all types of work were entrusted to the Deputy Chairman of the GKO V.M. Molotov, the scientific management of the project was entrusted to I.V. Kurchatov. The management of work on the search for deposits and the extraction of uranium ore was entrusted to A.P. Zavenyagin, M.G. was responsible for the creation of enterprises for the enrichment of uranium and the production of heavy water. Pervukhin, and People's Commissar non-ferrous metallurgy P.F. Lomako "trusted" by 1944 to accumulate 0.5 tons of metallic (enriched to the required standards) uranium.

At this, the first stage (the deadlines for which were disrupted), providing for the creation of an atomic bomb in the USSR, was completed.

After the United States dropped atomic bombs on Japanese cities, the leadership of the USSR saw with their own eyes the backlog scientific research and practical work to create nuclear weapons from their competitors. To intensify and create an atomic bomb as soon as possible, on August 20, 1945, a special decree of the GKO was issued on the creation of Special Committee No. 1, whose functions included organizing and coordinating all types of work to create a nuclear bomb. L.P. is appointed the head of this emergency body with unlimited powers. Beria, the scientific leadership is entrusted to I.V. Kurchatov. The direct management of all research, design and production enterprises was to be carried out by the People's Commissar for Armaments B.L. Vannikov.

Due to the fact that scientific, theoretical and experimental studies were completed, intelligence data on the organization of industrial production of uranium and plutonium were obtained, the scouts obtained schemes for American atomic bombs, the greatest difficulty was the transfer of all types of work to an industrial basis. To create enterprises for the production of plutonium, the city of Chelyabinsk - 40 was built from scratch (scientific supervisor I.V. Kurchatov). In the village of Sarov (future Arzamas - 16), an assembly and production plant was built in industrial scale the atomic bombs themselves (supervisor - chief designer Yu.B. Khariton).

Thanks to the optimization of all types of work and strict control over them by L.P. Beria, who, however, did not interfere with the creative development of the ideas embedded in the projects, in July 1946 were developed terms of reference to create the first two Soviet atomic bombs:

• "RDS - 1" - a bomb with a plutonium charge, the explosion of which was carried out according to the implosive type;
• "RDS - 2" - a bomb with a cannon detonation of a uranium charge.

I.V. Kurchatov.

Paternity rights

Tests of the first atomic bomb "RDS - 1" created in the USSR (the abbreviation in various sources stands for - "jet engine C" or "Russia makes itself") took place in the last days of August 1949 in Semipalatinsk under the direct supervision of Yu.B. Khariton. The power of the nuclear charge was 22 kilotons. However, from the point of view of modern copyright law, it is impossible to attribute paternity to this product to any of the Russian (Soviet) citizens. Earlier, when developing the first practical model suitable for military use, the Government of the USSR and the leadership of Special Project No. 1 decided to copy the domestic implosion bomb with a plutonium charge from the American Tolstyak prototype dropped on japanese city Nagasaki. Thus, the “fatherhood” of the first nuclear bomb of the USSR rather belongs to General Leslie Groves, the military leader of the Manhattan Project, and Robert Oppenheimer, known throughout the world as the “father of the atomic bomb” and who provided scientific leadership on the project. "Manhattan". The main difference between the Soviet model and the American one is the use of domestic electronics in the detonation system and a change in the aerodynamic shape of the bomb body.

The first "purely" Soviet atomic bomb can be considered the product "RDS - 2". Despite the fact that it was originally planned to copy the American uranium prototype "Kid", the Soviet uranium atomic bomb "RDS - 2" was created in an implosive version, which had no analogues at that time. L.P. participated in its creation. Beria - general project management, I.V. Kurchatov is the scientific supervisor of all types of work and Yu.B. Khariton is the scientific adviser and chief designer responsible for the manufacture of a practical sample of the bomb and its testing.

Speaking about who is the father of the first Soviet atomic bomb, one should not lose sight of the fact that both RDS - 1 and RDS - 2 were blown up at the test site. The first atomic bomb dropped from the Tu - 4 bomber was the RDS - 3 product. Its design repeated the RDS-2 implosion bomb, but had a combined uranium-plutonium charge, thanks to which it was possible to increase its power, with the same dimensions, up to 40 kilotons. Therefore, in many publications, academician Igor Kurchatov is considered the “scientific” father of the first atomic bomb actually dropped from an aircraft, since his colleague in the scientific workshop, Yuli Khariton, was categorically against making any changes. The fact that in the entire history of the USSR L.P. Beria and I.V. Kurchatov were the only ones who in 1949 were awarded the title of Honorary Citizen of the USSR - "... for the implementation of the Soviet atomic project, the creation of an atomic bomb."

The appearance of atomic (nuclear) weapons was due to a mass of objective and subjective factors. Objectively, the creation of atomic weapons came about thanks to the rapid development of science, which began with fundamental discoveries in the field of physics in the first half of the twentieth century. The main subjective factor was the military-political situation, when the states of the anti-Hitler coalition began an unspoken race to develop such powerful weapons. Today we will find out who invented the atomic bomb, how it developed in the world and the Soviet Union, and also get acquainted with its device and the consequences of its use.

Creation of the atomic bomb

With scientific point of view, the year of the creation of the atomic bomb was the distant year 1896. It was then that the French physicist A. Becquerel discovered the radioactivity of uranium. Subsequently, the uranium chain reaction came to be seen as a source of tremendous energy, and easy to develop the most dangerous weapons in the world. Nevertheless, Becquerel is rarely mentioned when talking about who invented the atomic bomb.

Over the next few decades, alpha, beta and gamma rays were discovered by scientists from all over the Earth. At the same time, a large number of radioactive isotopes, formulated the law of radioactive decay and laid the foundation for the study of nuclear isomerism.

In the 1940s, scientists discovered the neuron and the positron, and for the first time performed the fission of the nucleus of the uranium atom, accompanied by the absorption of neurons. It was this discovery that became a turning point in history. In 1939, the French physicist Frédéric Joliot-Curie patented the world's first nuclear bomb, which he developed with his wife, confessing a purely scientific interest. It is Joliot-Curie who is considered the creator of the atomic bomb, despite the fact that he was a staunch defender of world peace. In 1955, he, along with Einstein, Born and a number of other famous scientists, organized the Pugwash Movement, whose members advocated peace and disarmament.

Rapidly developing, atomic weapons have become an unprecedented military-political phenomenon that allows you to ensure the safety of its owner and reduce to a minimum the capabilities of other weapons systems.

How is a nuclear bomb made?

Structurally, the atomic bomb consists of a large number components, the main of which are the body and automation. The case is designed to protect automation and a nuclear charge from mechanical, thermal, and other influences. Automation controls the time parameters of the explosion.

It consists of:

1. Emergency demolition.
2. Arming and safety devices.
3. Source of power.
4. Various sensors.

Transportation of atomic bombs to the place of attack is carried out with the help of missiles (anti-aircraft, ballistic or cruise). Nuclear ammunition can be part of a land mine, torpedo, aerial bomb and other elements. Used for atomic bombs various systems detonation. The simplest is a device in which a projectile hitting a target, causing the formation of a supercritical mass, stimulates an explosion.

Nuclear weapons can be of large, medium and small caliber. The power of the explosion is usually expressed in terms of TNT. Small-caliber atomic shells have a capacity of several thousand tons of TNT. Medium-caliber ones already correspond to tens of thousands of tons, and the capacity of large-caliber reaches millions of tons.

Principle of operation

The principle of operation of a nuclear bomb is based on the use of energy released during a nuclear chain reaction. During this process, heavy particles are divided and light particles are synthesized. When an atomic bomb explodes, a huge amount of energy is released in a short period of time over a small area. That is why such bombs are classified as weapons of mass destruction.

In the area of ​​a nuclear explosion, two key areas are distinguished: the center and the epicenter. In the center of the explosion, the process of energy release takes place directly. The epicenter is the projection of this process onto the earth or water surface. The energy of a nuclear explosion, projected onto the earth, can lead to seismic tremors that spread over a considerable distance. Harm environment these shocks bring only within a radius of several hundred meters from the point of explosion.

Affecting factors

Nuclear weapons have the following damage factors:

1. radioactive contamination.
2. Light emission.
3. shock wave.
4. electromagnetic impulse.
5. penetrating radiation.

The consequences of an atomic bomb explosion are detrimental to all living things. Due to release huge amount light and warm energy the explosion of a nuclear projectile is accompanied by a bright flash. In terms of power, this flash is several times stronger than the sun's rays, so there is a danger of being hit by light and thermal radiation within a radius of several kilometers from the point of explosion.

Another most dangerous damaging factor of atomic weapons is the radiation generated during the explosion. It acts only a minute after the explosion, but has a maximum penetrating power.

The shock wave has the strongest destructive effect. She literally erases everything that stands in her way from the face of the earth. Penetrating radiation poses a danger to all living beings. In humans, it causes the development of radiation sickness. Well, the electromagnetic pulse harms only technology. In aggregate damaging factors atomic explosion carry a great danger.

First tests

Throughout the history of the atomic bomb, America has shown the greatest interest in its creation. At the end of 1941, the country's leadership allocated a huge amount of money and resources for this direction. The project manager was Robert Oppenheimer, who is considered by many to be the creator of the atomic bomb. In fact, he was the first who was able to bring the idea of ​​scientists to life. As a result, on July 16, 1945, the first test of an atomic bomb took place in the desert of New Mexico. Then America decided that for complete completion war, she needs to defeat Japan - an ally Nazi Germany. The Pentagon quickly chose the targets for the first nuclear attacks, which were supposed to be a vivid illustration of the power of American weapons.

On August 6, 1945, the US atomic bomb, cynically called "Baby", was dropped on the city of Hiroshima. The shot turned out to be just perfect - the bomb exploded at a height of 200 meters from the ground, due to which its blast wave caused terrifying damage to the city. In areas far from the center, charcoal stoves were overturned, causing severe fires.

A bright flash was followed by a heat wave, which, in 4 seconds of action, managed to melt the tiles on the roofs of houses and incinerate telegraph poles. The heat wave was followed by a shock wave. The wind, which swept through the city at a speed of about 800 km / h, demolished everything in its path. Of the 76,000 buildings located in the city before the explosion, about 70,000 were completely destroyed. A few minutes after the explosion, it began to rain from the sky, large drops of which were black. The rain fell due to the formation in the cold layers of the atmosphere of a huge amount of condensate, consisting of steam and ash.

People who were hit by the fireball within a radius of 800 meters from the point of explosion turned into dust. Those who were a little further from the explosion had burned skin, the remnants of which were torn off by the shock wave. Black radioactive rain left incurable burns on the skin of the survivors. Those who miraculously managed to escape soon began to show signs of radiation sickness: nausea, fever and bouts of weakness.

Three days after the bombing of Hiroshima, America attacked another Japanese city - Nagasaki. The second explosion had the same disastrous consequences as the first.

In a matter of seconds, two atomic bombs killed hundreds of thousands of people. The shock wave practically wiped Hiroshima off the face of the earth. More than half local residents(about 240 thousand people) died immediately from their injuries. In the city of Nagasaki, about 73 thousand people died from the explosion. Many of those who survived were exposed to severe radiation, which caused infertility, radiation sickness and cancer. As a result, some of the survivors died in terrible agony. The use of the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and Nagasaki illustrated the terrible power of these weapons.

You and I already know who invented the atomic bomb, how it works and what consequences it can lead to. Now we will find out how things were with nuclear weapons in the USSR.

After the bombing of Japanese cities, I. V. Stalin realized that the creation of the Soviet atomic bomb was a matter of national security. On August 20, 1945, a committee on nuclear energy was created in the USSR, headed by L. Beria.

It should be noted that work in this direction were conducted in the Soviet Union since 1918, and in 1938, a special commission on the atomic nucleus was created at the Academy of Sciences. With the outbreak of World War II, all work in this direction was frozen.

In 1943, intelligence officers of the USSR handed over from England materials of closed scientific works in the field of nuclear energy. These materials illustrated that the work of foreign scientists on the creation of an atomic bomb has seriously advanced. At the same time, the American residents facilitated the introduction of reliable Soviet agents into the main centers of US nuclear research. Agents transmitted information about new developments to Soviet scientists and engineers.

Technical task

When in 1945 the issue of creating a Soviet nuclear bomb became almost a priority, one of the project leaders, Yu. Khariton, drew up a plan to develop two versions of the projectile. On June 1, 1946, the plan was signed by the top leadership.

According to the task, the designers had to build a RDS (Special Jet Engine) of two models:

1. RDS-1. A bomb with a plutonium charge that is detonated by spherical compression. The device was borrowed from the Americans.
2. RDS-2. A cannon bomb with two uranium charges converging in the cannon barrel before reaching a critical mass.

In the history of the notorious RDS, the most common, albeit humorous, formulation was the phrase "Russia does it itself." It was invented by Yu. Khariton's deputy, K. Shchelkin. This phrase very accurately conveys the essence of the work, at least for the RDS-2.

When America found out that the Soviet Union possessed the secrets of creating nuclear weapons, it became eager to escalate preventive war as soon as possible. In the summer of 1949, the Troyan plan appeared, according to which on January 1, 1950, it was planned to start hostilities against the USSR. Then the date of the attack was moved to the beginning of 1957, but on the condition that all NATO countries join it.

Tests

When information about America's plans came to the USSR through intelligence channels, the work of Soviet scientists accelerated significantly. Western experts believed that in the USSR atomic weapons would be created no earlier than in 1954-1955. In fact, the tests of the first atomic bomb in the USSR took place already in August 1949. On August 29, the RDS-1 device was blown up at the training ground in Semipalatinsk. A large team of scientists took part in its creation, led by Kurchatov Igor Vasilyevich. The design of the charge belonged to the Americans, and the electronic equipment was created from scratch. The first atomic bomb in the USSR exploded with a power of 22 kt.

Because of the probability retaliatory strike the Trojan plan, which nuclear attack 70 Soviet cities, was torn down. Tests at Semipalatinsk marked the end of the American monopoly on the possession of atomic weapons. The invention of Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov completely destroyed the military plans of America and NATO and prevented the development of another world war. Thus began the era of peace on Earth, which exists under the threat of absolute annihilation.

"Nuclear club" of the world

To date, not only America and Russia have nuclear weapons, but also a number of other states. The set of countries that own such weapons is conditionally called the "nuclear club".

It includes:

1. America (since 1945).
2. USSR, and now Russia (since 1949).
3. England (since 1952).
4. France (since 1960).
5. China (since 1964).
6. India (since 1974).
7. Pakistan (since 1998).
8. Korea (since 2006).

Israel also has nuclear weapons, although the country's leadership refuses to comment on their existence. In addition, on the territory of NATO countries (Italy, Germany, Turkey, Belgium, the Netherlands, Canada) and allies (Japan, South Korea, despite the official refusal), there are American nuclear weapons.

Ukraine, Belarus and Kazakhstan, which owned some of the nuclear weapons of the USSR, transferred their bombs to Russia after the collapse of the Union. She became the sole heir to the nuclear arsenal of the USSR.

Conclusion

Today we learned who invented the atomic bomb and what it is. Summarizing the above, we can conclude that today nuclear weapons are the most powerful tool of global politics, firmly embedded in relations between countries. On the one hand, it is an effective deterrent, and on the other hand, it is a convincing argument for preventing military confrontation and strengthening peaceful relations between states. Nuclear weapons are a symbol of an entire era, which requires especially careful handling.

In the Soviet Union, as early as 1918, research in nuclear physics was carried out, which prepared the test of the first atomic bomb in the USSR. In Leningrad, at the Radium Institute, in 1937 a cyclotron was launched, the first in Europe. "In what year was the first test of the atomic bomb in the USSR?" - you ask. You will know the answer very soon.

In 1938, on November 25, a commission on the atomic nucleus was created by a resolution of the Academy of Sciences. It included Sergey Vavilov, Abram Alikhanov, Abram Iofe, and others. They were joined two years later by Isai Gurevich and Vitaly Khlopin. By that time, nuclear research had already been carried out in more than 10 scientific institutes. At the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, in the same year, the Commission on Heavy Water was organized, which later became known as the Commission on Isotopes. After reading this article, you will learn how the further preparation and testing of the first atomic bomb in the USSR was carried out.

Construction of a cyclotron in Leningrad, discovery of new uranium ores

In 1939, in September, the construction of a cyclotron began in Leningrad. In 1940, in April, it was decided to create a pilot plant that would produce 15 kg of heavy water per year. However, due to the outbreak of war at that time, these plans were not realized. In May of the same year, Yu. Khariton, Ya. Zel'dovich, N. Semenov proposed their theory of the development of a nuclear chain reaction in uranium. At the same time, work began on the discovery of new uranium ores. These were the first steps that ensured the creation and testing of the atomic bomb in the USSR a few years later.

Physicists' idea of ​​a future atomic bomb

Many physicists in the late 1930s and early 1940s already had a rough idea of ​​what it would look like. The idea was to concentrate quite quickly in one place a certain amount (more than a critical mass) of fissile material under the influence of neutrons. After this, an avalanche-like increase in the number of atomic decays should begin in it. That is, it will be a chain reaction, as a result of which a huge charge of energy will be released and a powerful explosion will occur.

Problems encountered in the development of the atomic bomb

The first problem was to get enough fissile material. In nature, the only substance of this kind that could be found is an isotope of uranium with a mass number of 235 (that is, the total number of neutrons and protons in the nucleus), otherwise uranium-235. The content of this isotope in natural uranium is no more than 0.71% (uranium-238 - 99.2%). Moreover, the content of the natural substance in the ore is at best 1%. Therefore enough challenging task was the release of uranium-235.

As it soon became clear, plutonium-239 is an alternative to uranium. It is almost never found in nature (it is 100 times less than uranium-235). In an acceptable concentration, it can be obtained in nuclear reactors by irradiating uranium-238 with neutrons. The construction of a reactor for this also presented significant difficulties.

The third problem was that it was not easy to collect the required amount of fissile material in one place. In the process of approaching subcritical parts, even very fast, fission reactions begin to occur in them. The energy released in this case may not allow the main part of the atoms to participate in the fission process. Without having time to react, they will scatter.

The invention of V. Maslov and V. Spinel

V. Maslov and V. Spinel from the Kharkov Institute of Physics and Technology in 1940 filed an application for the invention of a munition based on the use of a chain reaction that triggers the spontaneous fission of uranium-235, its supercritical mass, which is created from several subcritical ones, separated by an impenetrable explosive for neutrons and destroyed by detonation. There are big doubts about the efficiency of such a charge, but nevertheless, a certificate for this invention was nevertheless received. However, this happened only in 1946.

Cannon diagram of the Americans

For the first bombs, the Americans intended to use cannon scheme, which used a real cannon barrel. With its help, one part of the fissile material (subcritical) was fired into another. But it was soon found that such a scheme for plutonium is not suitable due to the fact that the convergence rate is insufficient.

Construction of a cyclotron in Moscow

On April 15, 1941, the Council of People's Commissars decided to start building a powerful cyclotron in Moscow. However, after the Great Patriotic War began, almost all work in the field of nuclear physics was stopped, designed to bring the first test of the atomic bomb in the USSR closer. Many nuclear physicists were at the front. Others were refocused on what seemed to be more pressing areas at the time.

Collection of information about the nuclear issue

Since 1939, the 1st Directorate of the NKVD and the GRU of the Red Army have been collecting information on the nuclear problem. In 1940, in October, the first message was received from D. Cairncross, which spoke of plans to create an atomic bomb. This question was considered by the British Science Committee, where Cairncross worked. In 1941, in the summer, a bomb project was approved, which was called Tube Alloys. England by the beginning of the war was one of the world leaders in nuclear development. This situation was largely due to the help of German scientists who fled to this country when Hitler came to power.

K. Fuchs, a member of the KPD, was one of them. He went in the fall of 1941 to the Soviet embassy, ​​where he reported that he had important information about a powerful weapon created in England. S. Kramer and R. Kuchinskaya (radio operator Sonya) were assigned to communicate with him. The first radiograms sent to Moscow contained information about special method separation of uranium isotopes, gas diffusion, as well as a plant under construction for this purpose in Wales. After six transmissions, communication with Fuchs was interrupted.

The test of the atomic bomb in the USSR, the date of which is widely known today, was also prepared by other intelligence officers. So, in the United States, Semyonov (Twain) at the end of 1943 reported that E. Fermi in Chicago had succeeded in carrying out the first chain reaction. The source of this information was the physicist Pontecorvo. At the same time, secret works of Western scientists concerning atomic energy, dated 1940-1942, arrived from England through foreign intelligence. The information contained in them confirmed that great progress had been made in building the atomic bomb.

The wife of Konenkov (pictured below), a well-known sculptor, worked with others for intelligence. She became close to Einstein and Oppenheimer, the greatest physicists, and influenced them for a long time. L. Zarubina, another resident in the United States, was a member of Oppenheimer's and L. Szilard's circle of people. With the help of these women, the USSR managed to infiltrate Los Alamos, Oak Ridge, and the Chicago Laboratory, the largest nuclear research centers in America. Information on the atomic bomb in the United States was transmitted to Soviet intelligence in 1944 by the Rosenbergs, D. Greenglass, B. Pontecorvo, S. Sake, T. Hall, K. Fuchs.

In 1944, in early February, L. Beria, People's Commissar of the NKVD, held a meeting of intelligence leaders. It decided to coordinate the collection of information relating to the atomic problem, which came through the GRU of the Red Army and the NKVD. To do this, a department "C" was created. In 1945, on September 27, it was organized. P. Sudoplatov, Commissioner of the State Security Service, headed this department.

Fuchs transmitted in January 1945 a description of the design of the atomic bomb. Intelligence, among other things, also obtained materials on the separation of uranium isotopes by the electromagnetic method, data on the operation of the first reactors, instructions for the production of plutonium and uranium bombs, data on the size of the critical mass of plutonium and uranium, on the design of explosive lenses, on plutonium-240, on the sequence and time of bomb assembly and production operations. Information also concerned the method of bringing the bomb initiator into action, the construction of special plants for the separation of isotopes. Diary entries were also obtained, which contained information about the first test bombing in the United States in July 1945.

The information received through these channels accelerated and facilitated the task assigned to Soviet scientists. Western experts believed that a bomb could be created in the USSR only in 1954-1955. However, they were wrong. The first test of an atomic bomb in the USSR took place in 1949, in August.

New stages in the creation of the atomic bomb

In 1942, in April, M. Pervukhin, People's Commissar chemical industry, was familiarized by order of Stalin with materials related to work on the atomic bomb carried out abroad. To evaluate the information presented in the report, Pervukhin suggested creating a group of specialists. It included, on the recommendation of Ioffe, young scientists Kikoin, Alikhanov and Kurchatov.

In 1942, on November 27, a decree "On uranium mining" by the State Defense Committee was issued. It provided for the creation of a special institute, as well as the start of work on the processing and extraction of raw materials, geological exploration. All this was supposed to be carried out in order to test the first atomic bomb in the USSR as soon as possible. The year 1943 was marked by the fact that the NKCM started mining and processing uranium ore in Tajikistan, at the Tabarsh mine. The plan was 4 tons per year of uranium salts.

The previously mobilized scientists were recalled from the front at that time. In the same year, 1943, on February 11, Laboratory No. 2 of the Academy of Sciences was organized. Kurchatov was appointed its head. She was supposed to coordinate the work on the creation of the atomic bomb.

In 1944, Soviet intelligence obtained a handbook containing valuable information about the presence of uranium-graphite reactors and determining the parameters of the reactor. However, the uranium needed to load even a small experimental nuclear reactor did not yet exist in our country. In 1944, on September 28, the government of the USSR obliged the NKCM to hand over uranium salts and uranium to the state fund. Laboratory No. 2 was entrusted with the task of storing them.

Work carried out in Bulgaria

A large group of specialists, led by V. Kravchenko, head of the 4th special department of the NKVD, in 1944, in November, left to study the results of geological exploration in liberated Bulgaria. In the same year, on December 8, the State Defense Committee decided to transfer processing and production uranium ores from the NKMTs to the 9th Directorate of the GU GMP NKVD. In 1945, in March, S. Egorov was appointed head of the mining and metallurgical department of the 9th Directorate. At the same time, in January, NII-9 was organized to study uranium deposits, solve problems of obtaining plutonium and metallic uranium, and processing raw materials. By that time, about one and a half tons of uranium ore were coming from Bulgaria a week.

Construction of a diffusion plant

Since 1945, since March, after information was received from the United States through the channels of the NKGB about a bomb scheme built on the principle of implosion (that is, compression of fissile material by exploding a conventional explosive), work began on a scheme that had significant advantages over cannon. In April 1945, V. Makhanev wrote a note to Beria. It said that in 1947 it was planned to launch a diffusion plant located at Laboratory No. 2 to produce uranium-235. The productivity of this plant was supposed to be approximately 25 kg of uranium per year. This should have been enough for two bombs. The American one actually needed 65 kg of uranium-235.

Involvement of German scientists in research

On May 5, 1945, during the battles for Berlin, property belonging to Physics Institute On May 9, a special commission headed by A. Zavenyagin was sent to Germany. Her task was to find scientists who worked there on the atomic bomb, to collect materials on the uranium problem. Together with their families, a significant group of German scientists was taken to the USSR. These included Nobel laureates N. Riehl and G. Hertz, professors Gaib, M. von Ardene, P. Thyssen, G. Pose, M. Volmer, R. Deppel and others.

The creation of the atomic bomb is delayed

To produce plutonium-239, it was necessary to build a nuclear reactor. Even for the experimental one, about 36 tons of metallic uranium, 500 tons of graphite and 9 tons of uranium dioxide were needed. By August 1943, the graphite problem had been solved. Its release was launched in May 1944 at the Moscow Electrode Plant. However the right amount There was no uranium in the country by the end of 1945.

Stalin wanted the first atomic bomb to be tested in the USSR as soon as possible. The year by which it was to be realized was originally 1948 (until spring). However, by this time there were not even materials for its production. The new term was appointed on February 8, 1945 by a government decree. The creation of the atomic bomb was postponed until March 1, 1949.

The final stages that prepared the test of the first atomic bomb in the USSR

The event, which was sought for so long, occurred somewhat later than the re-scheduled date. The first test of the atomic bomb in the USSR took place in the year 1949, as planned, but not in March, but in August.

In 1948, on June 19, the first industrial reactor ("A") was launched. Plant "B" was built to separate the accumulated plutonium from nuclear fuel. Uranium blocks, irradiated, dissolved and separated chemical methods plutonium from uranium. Then the solution was additionally purified from fission products in order to reduce its radiation activity. In April 1949, plant "V" began to manufacture bomb parts from plutonium using the NII-9 technology. The first heavy water research reactor was launched at the same time. With numerous accidents, the development of production went on. When their consequences were eliminated, cases of personnel overexposure were observed. However, at that time, they did not pay attention to such trifles. The most important thing was to carry out the first test of the atomic bomb in the USSR (its date is 1949, August 29).

In July, a set of charge parts was ready. A group of physicists, led by Flerov, went to the combine to carry out physical measurements. A group of theorists, led by Zel'dovich, was sent to process the measurement results, as well as to calculate the probability of an incomplete break and the efficiency values.

Thus, the first test of an atomic bomb in the USSR was carried out in the year 1949. On August 5, the commission accepted a charge of plutonium and sent it to KB-11 by letter train. Here the necessary work was almost completed by this time. The control assembly of the charge was carried out in KB-11 on the night of August 10-11. The device was then dismantled, and its parts were packed for shipment to the landfill. As already mentioned, the first test of an atomic bomb in the USSR took place on August 29. Soviet bomb, thus, was created in 2 years and 8 months.

Testing the first atomic bomb

In the USSR in 1949, on August 29, a nuclear charge was tested at the Semipalatinsk test site. There was a device on top. The power of the explosion was 22 kt. The design of the used charge repeated the "Fat Man" from the USA, and the electronic filling was developed by Soviet scientists. The multilayer structure was represented by an atomic charge. In it, with the help of compression by a spherical converging detonation wave, plutonium was transferred to a critical state.

Some features of the first atomic bomb

5 kg of plutonium was placed in the center of the charge. The substance was installed in the form of two hemispheres surrounded by a shell of uranium-238. It served to contain the core, which swelled during a chain reaction, in order to have time to react as best as possible. most of plutonium. In addition, it was used as a reflector, as well as a neutron moderator. The tamper was surrounded by a shell made of aluminum. It served for uniform compression shock wave nuclear charge.

The installation of the node, which contained fissile material, for safety purposes was carried out immediately before the charge was applied. For this, there was a special through conical hole, closed with an explosive stopper. And in the inner and outer cases there were holes that were closed with lids. The fission of the nuclei of approximately 1 kg of plutonium was due to the power of the explosion. The remaining 4 kg did not have time to react and was sprayed uselessly when the first test of the atomic bomb was carried out in the USSR, the date of which you now know. A lot of new ideas for improving the charges arose during the implementation of this program. They concerned, in particular, an increase in the utilization rate of the material, as well as a reduction in weight and dimensions. Compared with the first, the new models have become more compact, more powerful and more elegant.

So, the first test of the atomic bomb in the USSR took place on August 29, 1949. It was the beginning of further developments in this area, which are ongoing to this day. The test of the atomic bomb in the USSR (1949) was an important event in the history of our country, initiating its status as a nuclear power.

In 1953, the first test in the history of Russia took place at the same Semipalatinsk test site. Its power was already 400 kt. Compare the first tests in the USSR of an atomic bomb and a hydrogen bomb: a yield of 22 kt and 400 kt. However, this was only the beginning.

On September 14, 1954, the first military exercises were carried out, during which the atomic bomb was used. They were called "Operation Snowball". The test of the atomic bomb in 1954 in the USSR, according to information declassified in 1993, was carried out, among other things, to find out how radiation affects a person. The participants in this experiment signed an undertaking that they would not disclose exposure information for 25 years.