The creators of the hydrogen bomb. Test of a hydrogen bomb in the USSR, USA, North Korea

Hydrogen, or thermonuclear bomb has become the cornerstone of the arms race between the US and the USSR. Two superpowers argued for several years about who would become the first owner of a new type of destructive weapon.

The project of thermonuclear weapons

At the beginning of the Cold War, the hydrogen bomb test was the most important argument for the leadership of the USSR in the fight against the United States. Moscow wanted to achieve nuclear parity with Washington and invested huge amounts of money in the arms race. However, the work on the creation of the hydrogen bomb did not begin with generous funding, but because of the reports of conspiratorial agents in America. In 1945, the Kremlin learned that the United States is preparing for the creation of new weapons. It was a super-bomb, the project of which was called Super.

The source of valuable information was Klaus Fuchs, an employee of the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the United States. He gave the Soviet Union specific information that concerned the secret American developments of the superbomb. By 1950, the Super project was thrown into the basket, as Western scientists realized that such a scheme of new weapons could not be realized. The head of this program was Edward Teller.

In 1946, Klaus Fuchs and John von Neumann developed the ideas of the Super project and patented their own system. Fundamentally new in it was the principle of radioactive implosion. In the USSR, this scheme began to be considered somewhat later - in 1948. In general, we can say that at the initial stage the Soviet atomic project was completely based on American intelligence information. But, continuing research already on the basis of these materials, the Soviet scientists noticeably outstripped their Western colleagues, it allowed the USSR to get first the first and then the most powerful thermonuclear bomb.

The First Soviet Studies

December 17, 1945 at a meeting of an ad hoc committee established under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, nuclear physicists Yakov Zeldovich, Isaak Pomeranchuk and Julius Hartion made a report "Using the nuclear energy of light elements." In this document, the possibility of using a bomb with deuterium was considered. This speech was the beginning of the Soviet nuclear program.

In 1946, theoretical studies were held at the Institute of Chemical Physics. The first results of this work were discussed at a meeting of the Scientific and Technical Council at the First Main Directorate. Two years later Lavrenty Beria instructed Kurchatov and Khariton to analyze the materials on the von Neumann system that had been delivered to the Soviet Union thanks to conspiratorial agents in the west. The data from these documents gave an additional impetus to the research, thanks to which the RDS-6 project was born.

"Ivy Mike" and "Castle Bravo"

On November 1, 1952, Americans tested the world's first thermonuclear explosive device. It was not yet a bomb, but already its most important component. The detonation occurred on the Eniwotek atoll, in the Pacific Ocean. Edward Teller and Stanislav Ulam (each of them in fact the creator of the hydrogen bomb) shortly before had developed a two-stage design, which the Americans had tried. The device could not be used as a weapon, since thermonuclear fusion was produced with the help of deuterium. In addition, it was huge weight and dimensions. Such a shell could not simply be dropped from an airplane.

The first hydrogen bomb was tested by Soviet scientists. After the US learned about the successful use of RDS-6s, it became clear that it was necessary to shorten the gap between the Russians in the arms race as soon as possible. The American test was held on March 1, 1954. The Bikini atoll on the Marshall Islands was chosen as the testing ground. Pacific archipelagos were not chosen by chance. There was almost no population (and the few people who lived on the nearby islands were evicted on the eve of the experiment).

The most destructive explosion of the hydrogen bomb of Americans became known as "Castle Bravo". The charge power was 2.5 times higher than expected. The explosion led to the radiation contamination of a large area (many islands and the Pacific Ocean), which led to a scandal and a revision of the nuclear program.

Development of RDS-6s

The project of the first Soviet thermonuclear bomb was named RDS-6s. The plan was written by an outstanding physicist Andrei Sakharov. In 1950, the USSR Council of Ministers decided to concentrate work on the creation of new weapons in the KB-11. According to this decision, a group of scientists led by Igor Tamm went to the closed Arzamas-16.

Especially for this ambitious project was prepared Semipalatinsk test site. Before the hydrogen bomb test began, numerous measuring, filming and recording instruments were installed there. In addition, on the instructions of scientists there appeared almost two thousand indicators. The area affected by the hydrogen bomb test included 190 facilities.

The Semipalatinsk experiment was unique not only because of the new type of weapons. Unique fences used for chemical and radioactive samples were used. Only a powerful shock wave could open them. Recording and filming equipment were installed in specially prepared fortified structures on the surface and in underground bunkers.

Alarm Clock

Back in 1946, Edward Teller, who worked in the United States, developed a prototype RDS-6s. It's called Alarm Clock. Initially, the design of this device was proposed as an alternative to Super. In April 1947 in the laboratory in Los Alamos began a series of experiments designed to study the nature of thermonuclear principles.

From Alarm Clock, scientists expected the greatest energy release. In autumn, Teller decided to use as fuel for the device of lithium deuteride. The researchers have not yet used this substance, but they expected that it would improve the efficiency of thermonuclear reactions. It is interesting that Teller already noted in his office notes the dependence of the nuclear program on the further development of computers. This technique was necessary for scientists for more accurate and complex calculations.

Alarm Clock and RDS-6c had a lot in common, but many were different. The American version was not as practical as the Soviet one because of its size. He inherited large sizes from the Super project. In the end, the Americans had to abandon this development. The latest research was carried out in 1954, after which it became clear that the project was unprofitable.

Explosion of the first thermonuclear bomb

The first test of a hydrogen bomb in human history occurred on August 12, 1953. In the morning on the horizon there was a bright flash, which even blurred through the goggles. The explosion of RDS-6 was 20 times more powerful than an atomic bomb. The experiment was considered successful. Scientists were able to achieve an important technological breakthrough. For the first time, lithium hydride was used as a fuel. Within a radius of 4 kilometers from the epicenter of the explosion, all the buildings destroyed the wave.

Subsequent tests of the hydrogen bomb in the USSR were based on the experience obtained with the use of RDS-6s. This destructive weapon was not only the most powerful. An important advantage of the bomb was its compactness. The projectile was placed in a Tu-16 bomber. Success allowed Soviet scientists to get ahead of the Americans. In the United States at this time was a thermonuclear device, the size of a house. It was not transportable.

When in Moscow they declared that the USSR hydrogen bomb was ready, this information was disputed in Washington. The main argument of the Americans was the fact that the thermonuclear bomb should be manufactured according to the Teller-Ulam scheme. It was based on the principle of radiation implosion. This project will be implemented in the USSR two years later, in 1955.

The physicist Andrei Sakharov made the largest contribution to the creation of RDS-6s. The hydrogen bomb was his brainchild - it was he who proposed revolutionary technical solutions that allowed successfully to complete the tests at the Semipalatinsk test site. Young Sakharov immediately became an academician in the USSR Academy of Sciences, Hero of Socialist Labor and a laureate of the Stalin Prize. Other scientists were rewarded and medals: Julius Khariton, Kirill Shchelkin, Yakov Zeldovich, Nikolai Dukhov, etc. In 1953, the hydrogen bomb test showed that Soviet science can overcome what still seemed fiction and fantasy. Therefore, immediately after the successful explosion of RDS-6s, even more powerful projectiles began to be developed.

RDS-37

November 20, 1955 passed the next test of a hydrogen bomb in the USSR. This time it was two-stage and corresponded to the Teller-Ulam scheme. The bomb RDS-37 was going to be dropped from the plane. However, when he got into the air, it became clear that the tests would have to be carried out in an abnormal situation. Contrary to the forecasts of weather forecasters, the weather deteriorated noticeably, because of which the polygon covered the dense clouds.

For the first time experts were forced to put a plane with a thermonuclear bomb on board. For some time at the Central command post there was a discussion about what to do next. The proposal to drop a bomb in the mountains nearby was considered, but this option was rejected, as too risky. Meanwhile, the plane continued circling near the landfill, producing fuel.

The decisive word was received by Zeldovich and Sakharov. A hydrogen bomb that exploded not at a test site would lead to disaster. Scientists understood the full extent of the risk and their own responsibility, and nevertheless gave written confirmation that the landing of the aircraft would be safe. Finally, the commander of the Tu-16 crew Fyodor Golovashko received a command to land. The landing was very smooth. The pilots showed all their skills and did not panic in a critical situation. The maneuver was perfect. At the Central command post they exhaled with relief.

The creator of the hydrogen bomb Sakharov and his team suffered the tests. The second attempt was scheduled for November 22. This day everything went without emergency situations. The bomb was dropped from a height of 12 kilometers. While the projectile fell, the plane managed to escape to a safe distance from the epicenter of the explosion. A few minutes later the nuclear mushroom reached a height of 14 kilometers, and its diameter was 30 kilometers.

The explosion was not without tragedy. From the shock wave at a distance of 200 kilometers knocked out the glass, because of which several people were injured. Also died a girl who lived in a neighboring aul, on which the ceiling collapsed. Another victim was a soldier who was in a special waiting area. The soldier fell asleep in the dug-out, and he died of asphyxiation before the comrades were able to pull him out.

Development of the "Tsar-bomb"

In 1954, the best nuclear physicists of the country, under the leadership of Igor Kurchatov, began developing the most powerful thermonuclear bomb in the history of mankind. Andrei Sakharov, Viktor Adamsky, Yuri Babayev, Yuri Smirnov, Yury Trutnev, etc. took part in this project. Thanks to its power and size, the bomb became known as the "Tsar Bomb". The project participants later recalled that this phrase appeared after Khrushchev's famous statement about "Kuz'kin's mother" at the UN. Officially, the project was called AN602.

Over the seven years of development, the bomb survived several reincarnations. At first, scientists planned to use components from uranium and the reaction of Jekyll-Hyde, but later this idea had to be abandoned because of the danger of radioactive contamination.

Test in Novaya Zemlya

For a while, the project "Tsar Bomb" was frozen, as Khrushchev was meeting in the US, and in the Cold War, there was a short pause. In 1961, the conflict between the countries flared up again and in Moscow again they remembered about thermonuclear weapons. Khrushchev reported on the upcoming tests in October 1961 during the 22nd Congress of the CPSU.

30 Tu-95V with a bomb on board flew out of the Deer and headed to the New Earth. The plane reached the target for two hours. Another Soviet hydrogen bomb was dropped at an altitude of 10.5 thousand meters above the nuclear test site "Dry Nose". The shell exploded in the air. A fireball appeared, which reached a diameter of three kilometers and almost touched the ground. According to calculations, scientists seismic wave from the explosion three times crossed the planet. The impact was felt for a thousand kilometers, and all the living at a distance of 100 kilometers could receive third degree burns (this did not happen, since this area was uninhabited).

At that time, the most powerful thermonuclear bomb in the United States in capacity was inferior to the "Tsar-bomb" four times. The Soviet leadership was quite the result of the experiment. In Moscow, they got what they wanted from the next hydrogen bomb. The test demonstrated that the USSR has weapons much more powerful than the United States. In the future, the destructive record of the "Tsar-bomb" was never broken. The most powerful explosion of the hydrogen bomb has become a major milestone in the history of science and the Cold War.

Thermonuclear weapons of other countries

British development of the hydrogen bomb began in 1954. The project was led by William Penney, who was previously a member of the Manhattan project in the United States. The British had crumbs of information about the structure of thermonuclear weapons. The American allies did not share this information. Washington referred to the law on atomic energy, adopted in 1946. The only exception for the British was the permission to monitor the tests. In addition, they used airplanes to collect samples left after the explosions of American shells.

First in London, we decided to limit ourselves to creating a very powerful atomic bomb. So began the test "Orange Herald". In the course of them, the most powerful of non-thermonuclear bombs in the history of mankind was dropped. Its disadvantage was excessive costliness. November 8, 1957 was tested hydrogen bomb. The history of the creation of the British two-stage device is an example of successful progress in conditions of lagging behind the two superpowers arguing among themselves.

In China, a hydrogen bomb appeared in 1967, in France - in 1968. Thus, there are five states in the club of the countries-owners of thermonuclear weapons. The information about the hydrogen bomb in North Korea remains controversial. The head of the DPRK, Kim Jong-un, said that his scientists were able to develop such a projectile. During the tests, seismologists from different countries recorded seismic activity caused by a nuclear explosion. But there is still no specific information about the hydrogen bomb in the DPRK.