During the construction of the nuclear test site at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, on August 12, 1953, I had to survive the explosion of the first hydrogen bomb on the globe with a power of 400 kilotons; the explosion occurred suddenly. The earth shook beneath us like water. A wave of the earth's surface passed and raised us to a height of more than a meter. And we were about 30 kilometers away from the epicenter of the explosion. A barrage of air waves threw us to the ground. I rolled over it for several meters, like wood chips. There was a wild roar. Lightning flashed dazzlingly. They inspired animal terror.
When we, observers of this nightmare, stood up, a nuclear mushroom was hanging above us. Warmth emanated from it and a cracking sound was heard. I looked enchanted at the stem of a giant mushroom. Suddenly a plane flew up to him and began making monstrous turns. I thought it was a hero pilot taking samples of radioactive air. Then the plane dived into the mushroom stem and disappeared... It was amazing and scary.
There were indeed planes, tanks and other equipment on the training ground. But later inquiries showed that not a single plane took air samples from the nuclear mushroom. Was this really a hallucination? The mystery was solved later. I realized that this was a chimney effect of gigantic proportions. There were no planes or tanks on the field after the explosion. But experts believed that they evaporated due to high temperature. I believe that they were simply sucked into the fire mushroom. My observations and impressions were confirmed by other evidence.
On November 22, 1955, an even more powerful explosion was carried out. The charge of the hydrogen bomb was 600 kilotons. We prepared the site for this new explosion 2.5 kilometers from the epicenter of the previous nuclear explosion. The melted radioactive crust of the earth was buried immediately in trenches dug by bulldozers; They were preparing a new batch of equipment that was supposed to burn in the flame of a hydrogen bomb. The head of the construction of the Semipalatinsk test site was R. E. Ruzanov. He left a evocative description of this second explosion.
Residents of “Bereg” (testers’ residential town), now the city of Kurchatov, were woken up at 5 o’clock in the morning. It was -15°C. Everyone was taken to the stadium. Windows and doors in the houses were left open.
At the appointed hour, a giant plane appeared, accompanied by fighters.
The flash of the explosion occurred unexpectedly and frighteningly. She was brighter than the Sun. The sun has dimmed. It disappeared. The clouds have disappeared. The sky turned black and blue. There was a blow of terrible force. He reached the stadium with the testers. The stadium was 60 kilometers from the epicenter. Despite this, the air wave knocked people to the ground and threw them tens of meters towards the stands. Thousands of people were knocked down. There was a wild cry from these crowds. Women and children were screaming. The entire stadium was filled with groans of injury and pain, which instantly shocked the people. The stadium with the testers and residents of the town drowned in dust. The city was also invisible from the dust. The horizon where the training ground was was boiling in clouds of flame. The leg of the atomic mushroom also seemed to be boiling. She was moving. It seemed as if a boiling cloud was about to approach the stadium and cover us all. It was clearly visible how tanks, planes, and parts of destroyed structures specially built on the training ground began to be drawn into the cloud from the ground and disappeared into it. The thought drilled into my head: we too will be drawn into this cloud! Everyone was overcome by numbness and horror.
Suddenly, the stem of a nuclear mushroom came off the boiling cloud above. The cloud rose higher, and the leg sank to the ground. Only then did people come to their senses. Everyone rushed to the houses. There were no windows, doors, roofs or belongings. Everything was scattered around. Those injured during the tests were hastily collected and sent to the hospital...
A week later, officers who arrived from the Semipalatinsk test site spoke in whispers about this monstrous spectacle. About the suffering that people endured. About tanks flying in the air. Comparing these stories with my observations, I realized that I had witnessed a phenomenon that can be called the chimney effect. Only on a gigantic scale.
During the hydrogen explosion, huge thermal masses were torn off from the surface of the earth and moved towards the center of the mushroom. This effect arose due to the monstrous temperatures produced by a nuclear explosion. In the initial stage of the explosion, the temperature was 30 thousand degrees Celsius. In the leg of the nuclear mushroom it was at least 8 thousand. A huge, monstrous suction force arose, drawing any objects standing at the test site into the epicenter of the explosion. Therefore, the plane that I saw during the first nuclear explosion was not a hallucination. He was simply pulled into the mushroom stalk, and he made incredible turns there...
The process that I observed during the explosion of a hydrogen bomb is very dangerous. Not only by its high temperature, but also by the effect I understood of the absorption of gigantic masses, be it the air or water shell of the Earth.
My calculation in 1962 showed that if a nuclear mushroom pierced the atmosphere to a great height, it could cause a planetary catastrophe. When the mushroom rises to a height of 30 kilometers, the process of sucking the Earth's water-air masses into space will begin. The vacuum will begin to work like a pump. The earth will lose its air and water shells along with the biosphere. Humanity will perish.
I calculated that for this apocalyptic process, an atomic bomb of only 2 thousand kilotons is sufficient, that is, only three times the power of the second hydrogen explosion. This is the simplest man-made scenario for the death of humanity.
At one time I was forbidden to talk about it. Today I consider it my duty to speak about the threat to humanity directly and openly.
Huge reserves of nuclear weapons have been accumulated on Earth. Nuclear power plant reactors are operating all over the world. They can become prey for terrorists. The explosion of these objects can reach a power greater than 2 thousand kilotons. Potentially, the scenario of the death of civilization has already been prepared.
What follows from this? It is necessary to protect nuclear facilities from possible terrorism so carefully that they are completely inaccessible to it. Otherwise, planetary catastrophe is inevitable.
Sergey Alekseenko
construction participant
Semipolatinsk Nuclear
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Everyone has already discussed one of the most unpleasant news of December - North Korea's successful testing of a hydrogen bomb. Kim Jong-un did not fail to hint (directly state) that he was ready at any moment to transform weapons from defensive to offensive, which caused an unprecedented stir in the press around the world.
However, there were also optimists who declared that the tests were falsified: they say that the shadow of the Juche is falling in the wrong direction, and somehow the radioactive fallout is not visible. But why is the presence of a hydrogen bomb in the aggressor country such a significant factor for free countries, since even nuclear warheads, which North Korea has in abundance, have never scared anyone so much?
What is this
The hydrogen bomb, also known as the Hydrogen Bomb or HB, is a weapon of incredible destructive power, whose power is measured in megatons of TNT. The principle of operation of HB is based on the energy that is generated during thermonuclear fusion of hydrogen nuclei - exactly the same process occurs in the Sun.
How is a hydrogen bomb different from an atomic bomb?
Nuclear fusion, the process that occurs during the detonation of a hydrogen bomb, is the most powerful type of energy available to humanity. We have not yet learned how to use it for peaceful purposes, but we have adapted it for military purposes. This thermonuclear reaction, similar to what can be seen in stars, releases an incredible flow of energy. In atomic energy, energy is obtained from the fission of the atomic nucleus, so the explosion of an atomic bomb is much weaker.
First test
And the Soviet Union was once again ahead of many participants in the Cold War race. The first hydrogen bomb, manufactured under the leadership of the brilliant Sakharov, was tested at the secret Semipalatinsk test site - and, to put it mildly, they impressed not only scientists, but also Western spies.
Shock wave
The direct destructive effect of a hydrogen bomb is a powerful, highly intense shock wave. Its power depends on the size of the bomb itself and the height at which the charge detonated.
Thermal effect
A hydrogen bomb of only 20 megatons (the size of the largest bomb tested so far is 58 megatons) creates a huge amount of thermal energy: concrete melted within a radius of five kilometers from the test site of the projectile. Within a nine-kilometer radius, all living things will be destroyed; neither equipment nor buildings will survive. The diameter of the crater formed by the explosion will exceed two kilometers, and its depth will fluctuate about fifty meters.
Fire ball
The most spectacular thing after the explosion will seem to observers to be a huge fireball: flaming storms initiated by the detonation of a hydrogen bomb will support themselves, drawing more and more flammable material into the funnel.
Radiation contamination
But the most dangerous consequence of the explosion will, of course, be radiation contamination. The disintegration of heavy elements in a raging fiery whirlwind will fill the atmosphere with tiny particles of radioactive dust - it is so light that when it enters the atmosphere, it can circle the globe two or three times and only then fall out in the form of precipitation. Thus, one explosion of a 100 megaton bomb could have consequences for the entire planet.
Tsar bomb
58 megatons - that's how much the largest hydrogen bomb, exploded at the test site of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago, weighed. The shock wave circled the globe three times, forcing the opponents of the USSR to once again become convinced of the enormous destructive power of this weapon. Veselchak Khrushchev joked at the plenum that they didn’t make another bomb only for fear of breaking the glass in the Kremlin.
There are a considerable number of different political clubs in the world. The G7, now the G20, BRICS, SCO, NATO, the European Union, to some extent. However, none of these clubs can boast of a unique function - the ability to destroy the world as we know it. The “nuclear club” has similar capabilities.
Today there are 9 countries that have nuclear weapons:
- Russia;
- Great Britain;
- France;
- India
- Pakistan;
- Israel;
- DPRK.
Countries are ranked as they acquire nuclear weapons in their arsenal. If the list were arranged by the number of warheads, then Russia would be in first place with its 8,000 units, 1,600 of which can be launched even now. The states are only 700 units behind, but they have 320 more charges at hand. “Nuclear club” is a purely relative concept; in fact, there is no club. There are a number of agreements between countries on non-proliferation and reduction of nuclear weapons stockpiles.
The first tests of the atomic bomb, as we know, were carried out by the United States back in 1945. This weapon was tested in the “field” conditions of World War II on residents of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. They operate on the principle of division. During the explosion, a chain reaction is triggered, which provokes the fission of nuclei into two, with the accompanying release of energy. Uranium and plutonium are mainly used for this reaction. Our ideas about what nuclear bombs are made of are connected with these elements. Since uranium occurs in nature only as a mixture of three isotopes, of which only one is capable of supporting such a reaction, it is necessary to enrich uranium. The alternative is plutonium-239, which does not occur naturally and must be produced from uranium.
If a fission reaction occurs in a uranium bomb, then a fusion reaction occurs in a hydrogen bomb - this is the essence of how a hydrogen bomb differs from an atomic one. We all know that the sun gives us light, warmth, and one might say life. The same processes that occur in the sun can easily destroy cities and countries. The explosion of a hydrogen bomb is generated by the synthesis of light nuclei, the so-called thermonuclear fusion. This “miracle” is possible thanks to hydrogen isotopes - deuterium and tritium. This is actually why the bomb is called a hydrogen bomb. You can also see the name “thermonuclear bomb”, from the reaction that underlies this weapon.
After the world saw the destructive power of nuclear weapons, in August 1945, the USSR began a race that lasted until its collapse. The United States was the first to create, test and use nuclear weapons, the first to detonate a hydrogen bomb, but the USSR can be credited with the first production of a compact hydrogen bomb, which can be delivered to the enemy on a regular Tu-16. The first US bomb was the size of a three-story house; a hydrogen bomb of that size would be of little use. The Soviets received such weapons already in 1952, while the United States' first "adequate" bomb was adopted only in 1954. If you look back and analyze the explosions in Nagasaki and Hiroshima, you can come to the conclusion that they were not so powerful . Two bombs in total destroyed both cities and killed, according to various sources, up to 220,000 people. Carpet bombing of Tokyo could kill 150-200,000 people a day even without any nuclear weapons. This is due to the low power of the first bombs - only a few tens of kilotons of TNT. Hydrogen bombs were tested with an aim to overcome 1 megaton or more.
The first Soviet bomb was tested with a claim of 3 Mt, but in the end they tested 1.6 Mt.
The most powerful hydrogen bomb was tested by the Soviets in 1961. Its capacity reached 58-75 Mt, with the declared 51 Mt. “Tsar” plunged the world into a slight shock, in the literal sense. The shock wave circled the planet three times. There was not a single hill left at the test site (Novaya Zemlya), the explosion was heard at a distance of 800 km. The fireball reached a diameter of almost 5 km, the “mushroom” grew by 67 km, and the diameter of its cap was almost 100 km. The consequences of such an explosion in a large city are hard to imagine. According to many experts, it was the test of a hydrogen bomb of such power (the States at that time had bombs four times less powerful) that became the first step towards signing various treaties banning nuclear weapons, their testing and reducing production. For the first time, the world began to think about its own security, which was truly at risk.
As mentioned earlier, the principle of operation of a hydrogen bomb is based on a fusion reaction. Thermonuclear fusion is the process of fusion of two nuclei into one, with the formation of a third element, the release of a fourth and energy. The forces that repel nuclei are enormous, so in order for the atoms to come close enough to merge, the temperature must be simply enormous. Scientists have been puzzling over cold thermonuclear fusion for centuries, trying, so to speak, to reset the fusion temperature to room temperature, ideally. In this case, humanity will have access to the energy of the future. As for the current thermonuclear reaction, to start it you still need to light a miniature sun here on Earth - bombs usually use a uranium or plutonium charge to start the fusion.
In addition to the consequences described above from the use of a bomb of tens of megatons, a hydrogen bomb, like any nuclear weapon, has a number of consequences from its use. Some people tend to believe that the hydrogen bomb is a “cleaner weapon” than a conventional bomb. Perhaps this has something to do with the name. People hear the word “water” and think that it has something to do with water and hydrogen, and therefore the consequences are not so dire. In fact, this is certainly not the case, because the action of a hydrogen bomb is based on extremely radioactive substances. It is theoretically possible to make a bomb without a uranium charge, but this is impractical due to the complexity of the process, so the pure fusion reaction is “diluted” with uranium to increase power. At the same time, the amount of radioactive fallout increases to 1000%. Everything that falls into the fireball will be destroyed, the area within the affected radius will become uninhabitable for people for decades. Radioactive fallout can harm the health of people hundreds and thousands of kilometers away. Specific numbers and the area of infection can be calculated by knowing the strength of the charge.
However, the destruction of cities is not the worst thing that can happen “thanks” to weapons of mass destruction. After a nuclear war, the world will not be completely destroyed. Thousands of large cities, billions of people will remain on the planet, and only a small percentage of territories will lose their “livable” status. In the long term, the entire world will be at risk due to the so-called “nuclear winter.” Detonation of the “club’s” nuclear arsenal could trigger the release of enough substance (dust, soot, smoke) into the atmosphere to “reduce” the brightness of the sun. The shroud, which could spread across the entire planet, would destroy crops for several years to come, causing famine and inevitable population decline. There has already been a “year without summer” in history, after a major volcanic eruption in 1816, so nuclear winter looks more than possible. Again, depending on how the war proceeds, we may end up with the following types of global climate change:
- a cooling of 1 degree will pass unnoticed;
- nuclear autumn - cooling by 2-4 degrees, crop failures and increased formation of hurricanes are possible;
- an analogue of the “year without summer” - when the temperature dropped significantly, by several degrees for a year;
- Little Ice Age – temperatures may drop by 30–40 degrees for a significant period of time and will be accompanied by depopulation of a number of northern zones and crop failures;
- ice age - the development of the Little Ice Age, when the reflection of sunlight from the surface can reach a certain critical level and the temperature will continue to fall, the only difference is the temperature;
- irreversible cooling is a very sad version of the Ice Age, which, under the influence of many factors, will turn the Earth into a new planet.
The nuclear winter theory has been constantly criticized, and its implications seem a bit overblown. However, there is no need to doubt its inevitable offensive in any global conflict involving the use of hydrogen bombs.
The Cold War is long behind us, and therefore nuclear hysteria can only be seen in old Hollywood films and on the covers of rare magazines and comics. Despite this, we may be on the verge of a, albeit small, but serious nuclear conflict. All this thanks to the rocket lover and hero of the fight against US imperialist ambitions - Kim Jong-un. The DPRK hydrogen bomb is still a hypothetical object; only indirect evidence speaks of its existence. Of course, the North Korean government constantly reports that they have managed to make new bombs, but no one has seen them live yet. Naturally, the States and their allies - Japan and South Korea - are a little more concerned about the presence, even hypothetical, of such weapons in the DPRK. The reality is that at the moment the DPRK does not have enough technology to successfully attack the United States, which they announce to the whole world every year. Even an attack on neighboring Japan or the South may not be very successful, if at all, but every year the danger of a new conflict on the Korean Peninsula is growing.
The content of the article
H-BOMB, a weapon of great destructive power (on the order of megatons in TNT equivalent), the operating principle of which is based on the reaction of thermonuclear fusion of light nuclei. The source of explosion energy is processes similar to those occurring on the Sun and other stars.
Thermonuclear reactions.
The interior of the Sun contains a gigantic amount of hydrogen, which is in a state of ultra-high compression at a temperature of approx. 15,000,000 K. At such high temperatures and plasma densities, hydrogen nuclei experience constant collisions with each other, some of which result in their fusion and ultimately the formation of heavier helium nuclei. Such reactions, called thermonuclear fusion, are accompanied by the release of enormous amounts of energy. According to the laws of physics, the energy release during thermonuclear fusion is due to the fact that during the formation of a heavier nucleus, part of the mass of the light nuclei included in its composition is converted into a colossal amount of energy. That is why the Sun, having a gigantic mass, loses approx. every day in the process of thermonuclear fusion. 100 billion tons of matter and releases energy, thanks to which life on Earth became possible.
Isotopes of hydrogen.
The hydrogen atom is the simplest of all existing atoms. It consists of one proton, which is its nucleus, around which a single electron rotates. Careful studies of water (H 2 O) have shown that it contains negligible amounts of “heavy” water containing the “heavy isotope” of hydrogen - deuterium (2 H). The deuterium nucleus consists of a proton and a neutron - a neutral particle with a mass close to a proton.
There is a third isotope of hydrogen, tritium, whose nucleus contains one proton and two neutrons. Tritium is unstable and undergoes spontaneous radioactive decay, turning into an isotope of helium. Traces of tritium have been found in the Earth's atmosphere, where it is formed as a result of the interaction of cosmic rays with gas molecules that make up the air. Tritium is produced artificially in a nuclear reactor by irradiating the lithium-6 isotope with a stream of neutrons.
Development of the hydrogen bomb.
Preliminary theoretical analysis has shown that thermonuclear fusion is most easily accomplished in a mixture of deuterium and tritium. Taking this as a basis, US scientists at the beginning of 1950 began implementing a project to create a hydrogen bomb (HB). The first tests of a model nuclear device were carried out at the Enewetak test site in the spring of 1951; thermonuclear fusion was only partial. Significant success was achieved on November 1, 1951 during the testing of a massive nuclear device, the explosion power of which was 4 × 8 Mt in TNT equivalent.
The first hydrogen aerial bomb was detonated in the USSR on August 12, 1953, and on March 1, 1954, the Americans detonated a more powerful (approximately 15 Mt) aerial bomb on Bikini Atoll. Since then, both powers have carried out explosions of advanced megaton weapons.
The explosion at Bikini Atoll was accompanied by the release of large amounts of radioactive substances. Some of them fell hundreds of kilometers from the explosion site on the Japanese fishing vessel "Lucky Dragon", while others covered the island of Rongelap. Since thermonuclear fusion produces stable helium, the radioactivity from the explosion of a pure hydrogen bomb should be no more than that of an atomic detonator of a thermonuclear reaction. However, in the case under consideration, the predicted and actual radioactive fallout differed significantly in quantity and composition.
The mechanism of action of a hydrogen bomb.
The sequence of processes occurring during the explosion of a hydrogen bomb can be represented as follows. First, the thermonuclear reaction initiator charge (a small atomic bomb) located inside the HB shell explodes, resulting in a neutron flash and creating the high temperature necessary to initiate thermonuclear fusion. Neutrons bombard an insert made of lithium deuteride, a compound of deuterium and lithium (a lithium isotope with mass number 6 is used). Lithium-6 is split into helium and tritium under the influence of neutrons. Thus, the atomic fuse creates the materials necessary for synthesis directly in the actual bomb itself.
Then a thermonuclear reaction begins in a mixture of deuterium and tritium, the temperature inside the bomb rapidly increases, involving more and more hydrogen in the synthesis. With a further increase in temperature, a reaction between deuterium nuclei, characteristic of a pure hydrogen bomb, could begin. All reactions, of course, occur so quickly that they are perceived as instantaneous.
Fission, fusion, fission (superbomb).
In fact, in a bomb, the sequence of processes described above ends at the stage of the reaction of deuterium with tritium. Further, the bomb designers chose not to use nuclear fusion, but nuclear fission. The fusion of deuterium and tritium nuclei produces helium and fast neutrons, the energy of which is high enough to cause nuclear fission of uranium-238 (the main isotope of uranium, much cheaper than the uranium-235 used in conventional atomic bombs). Fast neutrons split the atoms of the uranium shell of the superbomb. The fission of one ton of uranium creates energy equivalent to 18 Mt. Energy goes not only to explosion and heat generation. Each uranium nucleus splits into two highly radioactive “fragments.” Fission products include 36 different chemical elements and nearly 200 radioactive isotopes. All this constitutes the radioactive fallout that accompanies superbomb explosions.
Thanks to the unique design and the described mechanism of action, weapons of this type can be made as powerful as desired. It is much cheaper than atomic bombs of the same power.
Consequences of the explosion.
Shock wave and thermal effect.
The direct (primary) impact of a superbomb explosion is threefold. The most obvious direct impact is a shock wave of enormous intensity. The strength of its impact, depending on the power of the bomb, the height of the explosion above the surface of the earth and the nature of the terrain, decreases with distance from the epicenter of the explosion. The thermal impact of an explosion is determined by the same factors, but also depends on the transparency of the air - fog sharply reduces the distance at which a thermal flash can cause serious burns.
According to calculations, during an explosion in the atmosphere of a 20-megaton bomb, people will remain alive in 50% of cases if they 1) take refuge in an underground reinforced concrete shelter at a distance of approximately 8 km from the epicenter of the explosion (E), 2) are in ordinary urban buildings at a distance of approx. . 15 km from EV, 3) found themselves in an open place at a distance of approx. 20 km from EV. In conditions of poor visibility and at a distance of at least 25 km, if the atmosphere is clear, for people in open areas, the likelihood of survival increases rapidly with distance from the epicenter; at a distance of 32 km its calculated value is more than 90%. The area over which the penetrating radiation generated during an explosion causes death is relatively small, even in the case of a high-power superbomb.
Fire ball.
Depending on the composition and mass of flammable material involved in the fireball, giant self-sustaining firestorms can form and rage for many hours. However, the most dangerous (albeit secondary) consequence of the explosion is radioactive contamination of the environment.
Fallout.
How they are formed.
When a bomb explodes, the resulting fireball is filled with a huge amount of radioactive particles. Typically, these particles are so small that once they reach the upper atmosphere, they can remain there for a long time. But if a fireball comes into contact with the surface of the Earth, it turns everything on it into hot dust and ash and draws them into a fiery tornado. In a whirlwind of flame, they mix and bind with radioactive particles. Radioactive dust, except the largest, does not settle immediately. Finer dust is carried away by the resulting cloud and gradually falls out as it moves with the wind. Directly at the site of the explosion, radioactive fallout can be extremely intense - mainly large dust settling on the ground. Hundreds of kilometers from the explosion site and at greater distances, small but still visible particles of ash fall to the ground. They often form a cover similar to fallen snow, deadly to anyone who happens to be nearby. Even smaller and invisible particles, before they settle on the ground, can wander in the atmosphere for months and even years, circling the globe many times. By the time they fall out, their radioactivity is significantly weakened. The most dangerous radiation remains strontium-90 with a half-life of 28 years. Its loss is clearly observed throughout the world. When it settles on leaves and grass, it enters food chains that include humans. As a consequence of this, noticeable, although not yet dangerous, amounts of strontium-90 have been found in the bones of residents of most countries. The accumulation of strontium-90 in human bones is very dangerous in the long term, as it leads to the formation of malignant bone tumors.
Long-term contamination of the area with radioactive fallout.
In the event of hostilities, the use of a hydrogen bomb will lead to immediate radioactive contamination of an area within a radius of approx. 100 km from the epicenter of the explosion. If a superbomb explodes, an area of tens of thousands of square kilometers will be contaminated. Such a huge area of destruction with a single bomb makes it a completely new type of weapon. Even if the superbomb does not hit the target, i.e. will not hit the object with shock-thermal effects, the penetrating radiation and radioactive fallout accompanying the explosion will make the surrounding space uninhabitable. Such precipitation can continue for many days, weeks and even months. Depending on their quantity, the intensity of radiation can reach deadly levels. A relatively small number of superbombs is enough to completely cover a large country with a layer of radioactive dust that is deadly to all living things. Thus, the creation of the superbomb marked the beginning of an era when it became possible to make entire continents uninhabitable. Even long after the cessation of direct exposure to radioactive fallout, the danger due to the high radiotoxicity of isotopes such as strontium-90 will remain. With food grown on soils contaminated with this isotope, radioactivity will enter the human body.
How Soviet physicists made the hydrogen bomb, what pros and cons this terrible weapon carried, read in the “History of Science” section.
After World War II, it was still impossible to talk about the actual onset of peace - two major world powers entered an arms race. One of the facets of this conflict was the confrontation between the USSR and the USA in the creation of nuclear weapons. In 1945, the United States, the first to enter the race behind the scenes, dropped nuclear bombs on the notorious cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Soviet Union also carried out work on creating nuclear weapons, and in 1949 they tested the first atomic bomb, the working substance of which was plutonium. Even during its development, Soviet intelligence found out that the United States had switched to developing a more powerful bomb. This prompted the USSR to start producing thermonuclear weapons.
The intelligence officers were unable to find out what results the Americans achieved, and the attempts of Soviet nuclear scientists were not successful. Therefore, it was decided to create a bomb, the explosion of which would occur due to the synthesis of light nuclei, and not the fission of heavy ones, as in an atomic bomb. In the spring of 1950, work began on creating a bomb, which later received the name RDS-6s. Among its developers was the future Nobel Peace Prize laureate Andrei Sakharov, who proposed the idea of designing a charge back in 1948, but later opposed nuclear tests.
Andrey Sakharov
Vladimir Fedorenko/Wikimedia Commons
Sakharov proposed covering a plutonium core with several layers of light and heavy elements, namely uranium and deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen. Subsequently, however, it was proposed to replace deuterium with lithium deuteride - this significantly simplified the design of the charge and its operation. An additional advantage was that lithium, after bombardment with neutrons, produces another isotope of hydrogen - tritium. When tritium reacts with deuterium, it releases much more energy. In addition, lithium also slows down neutrons better. This structure of the bomb gave it the nickname “Sloika”.
A certain challenge was that the thickness of each layer and the final number of layers were also very important for a successful test. According to calculations, from 15% to 20% of the energy released during the explosion came from thermonuclear reactions, and another 75-80% from the fission of uranium-235, uranium-238 and plutonium-239 nuclei. It was also assumed that the charge power would be from 200 to 400 kilotons; the practical result was at the upper limit of the forecasts.
On Day X, August 12, 1953, the first Soviet hydrogen bomb was tested in action. The Semipalatinsk test site where the explosion occurred was located in the East Kazakhstan region. The test of the RDS-6s was preceded by an attempt in 1949 (at that time a ground explosion of a bomb with a yield of 22.4 kilotons was carried out at the test site). Despite the isolated location of the test site, the population of the region experienced first-hand the beauty of nuclear testing. People who lived relatively close to the test site for decades, until the closure of the test site in 1991, were exposed to radiation, and areas many kilometers from the test site were contaminated with nuclear decay products.
The first Soviet hydrogen bomb RDS-6s
Wikimedia Commons
A week before the RDS-6s test, according to eyewitnesses, the military gave money and food to the families living near the test site, but there was no evacuation or information about the upcoming events. The radioactive soil was removed from the test site itself, and nearby structures and observation posts were restored. It was decided to detonate the hydrogen bomb on the surface of the earth, despite the fact that the configuration made it possible to drop it from an airplane.
Previous tests of atomic charges were strikingly different from what nuclear scientists recorded after the Sakharov puff test. The energy output of the bomb, which critics call not a thermonuclear bomb but a thermonuclear-enhanced atomic bomb, was 20 times greater than that of previous charges. This was noticeable to the naked eye wearing sunglasses: only dust remained from the surviving and restored buildings after the hydrogen bomb test.
