Where was the atomic bomb invented? Nuclear weapons of Russia: device, principle of operation, first tests. Nuclear weapons past and present

It attracted experts from many countries. Scientists and engineers from the USA, the USSR, England, Germany and Japan worked on these developments. Particularly active work was carried out in this area by the Americans, who had the best technological base and raw materials, and also managed to attract the strongest intellectual resources at that time to research.

The United States government has set a task for physicists - to create a new type of weapon in the shortest possible time that could be delivered to the most remote point on the planet.

Los Alamos, located in the deserted desert of New Mexico, became the center of American nuclear research. Many scientists, designers, engineers and the military worked on the top-secret military project, and the experienced theoretical physicist Robert Oppenheimer, who is most often called the "father" of atomic weapons, was in charge of all the work. Under his leadership, the best specialists from all over the world developed the controlled technology without interrupting the search process for even a minute.

By the autumn of 1944, measures to create the first nuclear power plant in history in general terms came to an end. By this time, a special aviation regiment had already been formed in the United States, which had to carry out the tasks of delivering deadly weapons to the places of their use. The pilots of the regiment underwent special training, making training flights at different altitudes and in conditions close to combat.

First atomic bombings

In mid-1945, US designers managed to assemble two nuclear devices ready for use. The first objects to strike were also chosen. At that time Japan was the strategic adversary of the USA.

The American leadership decided to deliver the first atomic strikes on two Japanese cities in order to frighten not only Japan, but also other countries, including the USSR, by this action.

On August 6th and 9th, 1945, American bombers dropped the first ever atomic bombs on the unsuspecting inhabitants of Japanese cities, which were Hiroshima and Nagasaki. As a result, more than one hundred thousand people died from thermal radiation and shock waves. Such were the consequences of the use of unprecedented weapons. The world has entered a new phase of its development.

However, the US monopoly on the military use of the atom was not too long. Soviet Union also strenuously sought ways to put into practice the principles underlying nuclear weapons. Igor Kurchatov headed the work of a team of Soviet scientists and inventors. In August 1949, tests of the Soviet atomic bomb were successfully carried out, which received the working name RDS-1. The fragile military balance in the world was restored.

The hydrogen or thermonuclear bomb became the cornerstone of the arms race between the US and the USSR. The two superpowers have been arguing for several years about who will be the first owner of a new type of destructive weapon.

thermonuclear weapons project

At the beginning of the Cold War, the test of the hydrogen bomb 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, work on the creation of a hydrogen bomb began not thanks to generous funding, but because of reports from secret agents in America. In 1945, the Kremlin learned that the United States was preparing to create a new weapon. 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 USA. 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 trash, as it became clear to Western scientists that such a scheme for a new weapon could not be implemented. The head of this program was Edward Teller.

In 1946, Klaus Fuchs and John 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 a little later - in 1948. In general, we can say that at the initial stage it was completely based on American information received by intelligence. But, continuing research already on the basis of these materials, Soviet scientists were noticeably ahead of their Western counterparts, which allowed the USSR to first obtain the first, and then the most powerful thermonuclear bomb.

On December 17, 1945, at a meeting of a special committee established under the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, nuclear physicists Yakov Zel'dovich, Isaak Pomeranchuk and Julius Khartion made a report "Using the nuclear energy of light elements." This paper considered the possibility of using a deuterium bomb. This speech was the beginning of the Soviet nuclear program.

In 1946 theoretical studies hoists are carried out at the Institute of Chemical Physics. The first results of this work were discussed at one of the meetings of the Scientific and Technical Council in the First Main Directorate. Two years later, Lavrenty Beria instructed Kurchatov and Khariton to analyze materials about the von Neumann system, which were delivered to the Soviet Union thanks to covert 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.

Evie Mike and Castle Bravo

On November 1, 1952, the Americans tested the world's first thermonuclear bomb. It was not yet a bomb, but already its most important component. The explosion occurred on the Enivotek Atoll, in pacific ocean. and Stanislav Ulam (each of them is actually the creator of the hydrogen bomb) shortly before developed a two-stage design, which the Americans tested. The device could not be used as a weapon, as it was produced using deuterium. In addition, it was distinguished by its enormous weight and dimensions. Such a projectile simply could not be dropped from an aircraft.

The test of the first hydrogen bomb was carried out by Soviet scientists. After the United States learned about the successful use of the RDS-6s, it became clear that it was necessary to close the gap with the Russians in the arms race as soon as possible. The American test passed on March 1, 1954. Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands was chosen as the test site. The Pacific archipelagos were not chosen by chance. There was almost no population here (and those few people who lived on nearby islands were evicted on the eve of the experiment).

The most devastating American hydrogen bomb explosion became known as "Castle Bravo". The charge power turned out to be 2.5 times higher than expected. The explosion led to 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 the outstanding physicist Andrei Sakharov. In 1950, the Council of Ministers of the USSR decided to concentrate work on the creation of new weapons in KB-11. According to this decision, a group of scientists led by Igor Tamm went to the closed Arzamas-16.

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

The Semipalatinsk experiment was unique not only because of the new type of weapon. Unique intakes designed for chemical and radioactive samples were used. Only a powerful shock wave could open them. Recording and filming devices 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 the RDS-6s prototype. It was called Alarm Clock. Initially, the project of this device was proposed as an alternative to Super. In April 1947, a whole series of experiments began at the Los Alamos laboratory to investigate the nature of thermonuclear principles.

From the Alarm Clock, scientists expected the greatest energy release. In the fall, Teller decided to use lithium deuteride as fuel for the device. Researchers had not yet used this substance, but expected that it would increase efficiency. Interestingly, Teller already noted in his memos the dependence of the nuclear program on further development computers. This technique was needed by scientists for more accurate and complex calculations.

Alarm Clock and RDS-6s had much in common, but they differed in many ways. The American version was not as practical as the Soviet one due to its size. He inherited the large size from the Super project. In the end, the Americans had to abandon this development. The last studies took place in 1954, after which it became clear that the project was unprofitable.

Explosion of the first thermonuclear bomb

First in human history The hydrogen bomb test took place on August 12, 1953. In the morning, a bright flash appeared on the horizon, which blinded even through goggles. The RDS-6s explosion turned out to be 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, the wave destroyed all the buildings.

Subsequent tests of the hydrogen bomb in the USSR were based on the experience gained using the RDS-6s. This devastating weapon was not only the most powerful. An important advantage of the bomb was its compactness. The projectile was placed in the Tu-16 bomber. Success allowed Soviet scientists to get ahead of the Americans. In the USA at that time there was a thermonuclear device, the size of a house. It was non-transportable.

When Moscow announced that the USSR's hydrogen bomb was ready, Washington disputed this information. 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 in two years, in 1955.

The physicist Andrei Sakharov made the greatest contribution to the creation of the RDS-6s. The hydrogen bomb was his brainchild - it was he who proposed the revolutionary technical solutions that made it possible to successfully complete tests at the Semipalatinsk test site. Young Sakharov immediately became an academician at the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, and other scientists also received awards and medals as a Hero of Socialist Labor: Yuli Khariton, Kirill Shchelkin, Yakov Zeldovich, Nikolai Dukhov, etc. In 1953, a test of a hydrogen bomb showed that Soviet science can overcome what until recently seemed fiction and fantasy. Therefore, immediately after the successful explosion of the RDS-6s, the development of even more powerful projectiles began.

RDS-37

On November 20, 1955, another test of the hydrogen bomb took place in the USSR. This time it was two-stage and corresponded to the Teller-Ulam scheme. The RDS-37 bomb was about to be dropped from an aircraft. However, when he took to the air, it became clear that the tests would have to be carried out in an emergency. Contrary to forecasts of weather forecasters, the weather deteriorated noticeably, due to which dense clouds covered the test site.

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

Zel'dovich and Sakharov received the decisive word. A hydrogen bomb that did not explode at a test site would have led to disaster. Scientists understood the full degree of risk and their own responsibility, and yet they gave written confirmation that the landing of the aircraft would be safe. Finally, the commander of the Tu-16 crew, Fyodor Golovashko, received the 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. The Central Command Post let out a breath of relief.

The creator of the hydrogen bomb Sakharov and his team have postponed the tests. The second attempt was scheduled for 22 November. On this day, everything went without emergency situations. The bomb was dropped from a height of 12 kilometers. While the projectile was falling, the plane managed to retire 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 tragic incidents. From the shock wave at a distance of 200 kilometers, glass was knocked out, because of which several people were injured. A girl who lived in a neighboring village also died, on which the ceiling collapsed. Another victim was a soldier who was in a special waiting area. The soldier fell asleep in the dugout, and he died of suffocation before his comrades could pull him out.

Development of the "Tsar bomb"

In 1954, the best nuclear physicists of the country, under the leadership, began the development of the most powerful thermonuclear bomb in the history of mankind. Andrey Sakharov, Viktor Adamsky, Yuri Babaev, Yuri Smirnov, Yuri Trutnev, etc. also took part in this project. Due to its power and size, the bomb became known as the Tsar Bomba. Project participants later recalled that this phrase appeared after Khrushchev's famous statement about "Kuzka's mother" at the UN. Officially, the project was called AN602.

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

Trial on New Earth

For some time, the Tsar Bomba project was frozen, as Khrushchev was going to the United States, and there was a short pause in the Cold War. In 1961, the conflict between the countries flared up again and in Moscow they again remembered thermonuclear weapons. Khrushchev announced the upcoming tests in October 1961 during the XXII Congress of the CPSU.

On the 30th, a Tu-95V with a bomb on board took off from Olenya and headed for Novaya Zemlya. The plane reached the target for two hours. Another Soviet hydrogen bomb was dropped at an altitude of 10.5 thousand meters above nuclear test site"Dry Nose". The shell exploded while still in the air. arose fire ball, which reached a diameter of three kilometers and almost touched the ground. According to scientists, the seismic wave from the explosion crossed the planet three times. The impact was felt a thousand kilometers away, and all living things at a distance of a hundred kilometers could receive third-degree burns (this did not happen, since the area was uninhabited).

At that time, the most powerful US thermonuclear bomb was four times less powerful than the Tsar Bomba. The Soviet leadership was pleased with the result of the experiment. In Moscow, they got what they wanted so much from the next hydrogen bomb. The test showed that the USSR has weapons much more powerful than the United States. In the future, the devastating record of the Tsar Bomba was never broken. The most powerful explosion of the hydrogen bomb was a 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 leader was William Penney, who had previously been a member of the Manhattan Project in the United States. The British had crumbs of information about the structure of thermonuclear weapons. American allies did not share this information. Washington cited the 1946 Atomic Energy Act. The only exception for the British was permission to observe the tests. In addition, they used aircraft to collect samples left after the explosions of American shells.

At first, in London, they decided to limit themselves to the creation of a very powerful atomic bomb. Thus began the testing of the Orange Herald. During them, the most powerful non-thermonuclear bomb in the history of mankind was dropped. Its disadvantage was excessive cost. On November 8, 1957, a hydrogen bomb was tested. The history of the creation of the British two-stage device is an example of successful progress in the conditions of lagging behind the two superpowers arguing with each other.

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

A democratic form of government must be established in the USSR.

Vernadsky V.I.

The atomic bomb in the USSR was created on August 29, 1949 (the first successful launch). Academician Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov supervised the project. The period of development of atomic weapons in the USSR lasted from 1942, and ended with a test on the territory of Kazakhstan. This broke the US monopoly on such weapons, because since 1945 they were the only nuclear power. The article is devoted to describing the history of the emergence of the Soviet nuclear bomb, as well as characterizing the consequences of these events for the USSR.

History of creation

In 1941, representatives of the USSR in New York conveyed to Stalin information that a meeting of physicists was being held in the United States, which was devoted to the development of nuclear weapons. Soviet scientists of the 1930s also worked on the study of the atom, the most famous was the splitting of the atom by scientists from Kharkov, led by L. Landau. However, it did not reach the real use in armament. In addition to the United States, Nazi Germany worked on this. At the end of 1941, the United States began its atomic project. Stalin found out about this at the beginning of 1942 and signed a decree on the creation of a laboratory in the USSR to create an atomic project, Academician I. Kurchatov became its head.

There is an opinion that the work of US scientists was accelerated by the secret developments of German colleagues who ended up in America. In any case, in the summer of 1945, at the Potsdam Conference, the new US President G. Truman informed Stalin about the completion of work on a new weapon - the atomic bomb. Moreover, to demonstrate the work of American scientists, the US government decided to test a new weapon in battle: on August 6 and 9, bombs were dropped on two Japanese cities, Hiroshima and Nagasaki. This was the first time that humanity learned about a new weapon. It was this event that forced Stalin to speed up the work of his scientists. I. Kurchatov summoned Stalin and promised to fulfill any requirements of the scientist, if only the process went as quickly as possible. Moreover, a state committee was created under the Council of People's Commissars, which oversaw the Soviet nuclear project. It was headed by L. Beria.

Development has moved to three centers:

1. Design Bureau of the Kirov Plant, working on the creation of special equipment.
2. Diffuse plant in the Urals, which was supposed to work on the creation of enriched uranium.
3. Chemical and metallurgical centers where plutonium was studied. It was this element that was used in the first Soviet-style nuclear bomb.

In 1946, the first Soviet unified nuclear center was established. It was a secret object Arzamas-16, located in the city of Sarov (Nizhny Novgorod region). In 1947, the first nuclear reactor was created at an enterprise near Chelyabinsk. In 1948, a secret training ground was created on the territory of Kazakhstan, near the city of Semipalatinsk-21. It was here that on August 29, 1949, the first explosion of the Soviet atomic bomb RDS-1 was organized. This event was kept completely secret, but the American Pacific Air Force was able to record a sharp increase in radiation levels, which was evidence of testing a new weapon. Already in September 1949, G. Truman announced the presence of an atomic bomb in the USSR. Officially, the USSR admitted to having these weapons only in 1950.

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

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

Within two years, the Heisenberg group carried out the research needed to create an atomic reactor using uranium and heavy water. It was confirmed that only one of the isotopes, namely, uranium-235, contained in very small concentrations in ordinary uranium ore, can serve as an explosive. The first problem was how to isolate it from there. The starting point of the bombing program was an atomic reactor, which required either graphite or heavy water as a reaction moderator. German physicists chose water, thereby creating a serious problem for themselves. After the occupation of Norway, the only heavy water plant in the world at that time passed into the hands of the Nazis. But there, the stock of the product needed by physicists by the beginning of the war was only tens of kilograms, and the Germans did not get them either - the French stole valuable products literally from under the noses of the Nazis. And in February 1943, the British commandos abandoned in Norway, with the help of local resistance fighters, disabled the plant. The implementation of Germany's nuclear program was in jeopardy. The misadventures of the Germans did not end there: an experimental nuclear reactor exploded in Leipzig. The uranium project was supported by Hitler only as long as there was hope of obtaining a super-powerful weapon before the end of the war unleashed by him. Heisenberg was invited by Speer and asked bluntly: "When can we expect the creation of a bomb capable of being suspended from a bomber?" The scientist was honest: "I think it will take several years of hard work, in any case, the bomb will not be able to affect the outcome of the current war." The German leadership rationally considered that there was no point in forcing events. Let scientists work in peace - to next war Look, they'll make it. As a result, Hitler decided to concentrate scientific, industrial and financial resources only on projects that would give the fastest return in the creation of new types of weapons. State funding for the uranium project was curtailed. Nevertheless, the work of scientists continued.

Manfred von Ardenne, who developed a method for gas diffusion purification and separation of uranium isotopes in a centrifuge.

In 1944, Heisenberg received cast uranium plates for a large reactor plant, under which a special bunker was already being built in Berlin. The last experiment to achieve a chain reaction was scheduled for January 1945, but on January 31, all equipment was hastily dismantled and sent from Berlin to the village of Haigerloch near the Swiss border, where it was deployed only at the end of February. The reactor contained 664 cubes of uranium with a total weight of 1525 kg, surrounded by a graphite neutron moderator-reflector weighing 10 tons. In March 1945, an additional 1.5 tons of heavy water was poured into the core. On March 23, it was reported to Berlin that the reactor had started working. But the joy was premature - the reactor did not reach a critical point, the chain reaction did not start. After recalculations, it turned out that the amount of uranium must be increased by at least 750 kg, proportionally increasing the mass of heavy water. But there were no reserves left. The end of the Third Reich was inexorably approaching. On April 23, American troops entered Haigerloch. The reactor was dismantled and taken to the USA.

Meanwhile across the ocean

In parallel with the Germans (with only a slight lag), the development of atomic weapons was taken up in England and the USA. They began with a letter sent in September 1939 by Albert Einstein to US President Franklin Roosevelt. The initiators of the letter and the authors of most of the text were émigré physicists from Hungary Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller. The letter drew the president's attention to the fact that Nazi Germany was conducting active research, as a result of which it could soon acquire an atomic bomb.

In 1933, the German communist Klaus Fuchs fled to England. After receiving a degree in physics from the University of Bristol, he continued to work. In 1941, Fuchs reported his involvement in atomic research to Soviet intelligence agent Jurgen Kuchinsky, who informed Soviet ambassador Ivan Maisky. He instructed the military attache to urgently establish contact with Fuchs, who, as part of a group of scientists, was going to be transported to the United States. Fuchs agreed to work for Soviet intelligence. Many illegal Soviet spies were involved in working with him: the Zarubins, Eitingon, Vasilevsky, Semyonov and others. As a result of their active work, already in January 1945, the USSR had a description of the design of the first atomic bomb. At the same time, the Soviet residency in the United States reported that it would take the Americans at least one year, but no more than five years, to create a significant arsenal of atomic weapons. The report also said that the explosion of the first two bombs might be carried out in a few months. Pictured is Operation Crossroads, a series of atomic bomb tests conducted by the United States on Bikini Atoll in the summer of 1946. The goal was to test the effect of atomic weapons on ships.

In the USSR, the first information about the work carried out by both the allies and the enemy was reported to Stalin by intelligence as early as 1943. It was immediately decided to deploy similar work in the Union. Thus began the Soviet atomic project. Tasks were received not only by scientists, but also by intelligence officers, for whom the extraction of nuclear secrets has become a super task.

The most valuable information about the work on the atomic bomb in the United States, obtained by intelligence, greatly helped the promotion of the Soviet nuclear project. The scientists participating in it managed to avoid dead-end search paths, thereby significantly accelerating the achievement of the final goal.

Experience of Recent Enemies and Allies

Naturally, the Soviet leadership could not remain indifferent to German nuclear developments. At the end of the war, a group of Soviet physicists was sent to Germany, among whom were the future academicians Artsimovich, Kikoin, Khariton, Shchelkin. All were camouflaged in the uniform of colonels of the Red Army. The operation was led by First Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs Ivan Serov, which opened any door. In addition to the necessary German scientists, the “colonels” found tons of metallic uranium, which, according to Kurchatov, reduced work on the Soviet bomb by at least a year. The Americans also took out a lot of uranium from Germany, taking the specialists who worked on the project with them. And in the USSR, in addition to physicists and chemists, they sent mechanics, electrical engineers, glassblowers. Some were found in POW camps. For example, Max Steinbeck, the future Soviet academician and vice-president of the Academy of Sciences of the GDR, was taken away when he was making a sundial at the whim of the head of the camp. In total, at least 1000 German specialists worked on the atomic project in the USSR. From Berlin, the von Ardenne laboratory with a uranium centrifuge, equipment of the Kaiser Institute of Physics, documentation, reagents were completely taken out. Within the framework of the atomic project, laboratories "A", "B", "C" and "G" were created, the scientific supervisors of which were scientists who arrived from Germany.

K.A. Petrzhak and G. N. Flerov In 1940, in the laboratory of Igor Kurchatov, two young physicists discovered a new, very peculiar type of radioactive decay of atomic nuclei - spontaneous fission.

Laboratory "A" was headed by Baron Manfred von Ardenne, a talented physicist who developed a method for gaseous diffusion purification and separation of uranium isotopes in a centrifuge. At first, his laboratory was located on the Oktyabrsky field in Moscow. Five or six Soviet engineers were assigned to each German specialist. Later, the laboratory moved to Sukhumi, and over time, the famous Kurchatov Institute grew up on the Oktyabrsky field. In Sukhumi, on the basis of the von Ardenne laboratory, the Sukhumi Institute of Physics and Technology was formed. In 1947, Ardenne was awarded the Stalin Prize for the creation of a centrifuge for the purification of uranium isotopes on an industrial scale. Six years later, Ardenne became twice a Stalin laureate. He lived with his wife in a comfortable mansion, his wife played music on a piano brought from Germany. Other German specialists were not offended either: they came with their families, brought with them furniture, books, paintings, were provided with good salaries and food. Were they prisoners? Academician A.P. Alexandrov, himself an active participant in the atomic project, remarked: "Of course, the German specialists were prisoners, but we ourselves were prisoners."

Nikolaus Riehl, a native of St. Petersburg who moved to Germany in the 1920s, became the head of Laboratory B, which conducted research in the field of radiation chemistry and biology in the Urals (now the city of Snezhinsk). Here Riehl worked with his old acquaintance from Germany, the outstanding Russian biologist-geneticist Timofeev-Resovsky (“Zubr” based on the novel by D. Granin).

In December 1938, German physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann for the first time in the world carried out artificial fission of the uranium atom nucleus.

Recognized in the USSR as a researcher and talented organizer, able to find effective solutions to the most complex problems, Dr. Riehl became one of the key figures in the Soviet atomic project. After the successful testing of the Soviet bomb, he became a Hero of Socialist Labor and a laureate of the Stalin Prize.

The work of laboratory "B", organized in Obninsk, was headed by Professor Rudolf Pose, one of the pioneers in the field of nuclear research. Under his leadership, fast neutron reactors were created, the first nuclear power plant in the Union, and the design of reactors for submarines began. The object in Obninsk became the basis for the organization of the A.I. Leipunsky. Pose worked until 1957 in Sukhumi, then at the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research in Dubna.

Ancient Indian and Greek scientists assumed that matter consists of the smallest indivisible particles; they wrote about this in their treatises long before the beginning of our era. In the 5th century BC e. the Greek scientist Leucippus from Miletus and his student Democritus formulated the concept of an atom (Greek atomos "indivisible"). For many centuries this theory remained rather philosophical, and only in 1803 the English chemist John Dalton proposed a scientific theory of the atom, confirmed by experiments.

V late XIX early 20th century this theory was developed in the writings of Joseph Thomson, and then Ernest Rutherford, called the father of nuclear physics. It was found that the atom, contrary to its name, is not an indivisible finite particle, as previously stated. In 1911, physicists adopted Rutherford Bohr's "planetary" system, according to which an atom consists of a positively charged nucleus and negatively charged electrons revolving around it. Later it was found that the nucleus is also not indivisible; it consists of positively charged protons and chargeless neutrons, which, in turn, consist of elementary particles.

As soon as scientists became more or less aware of the structure atomic nucleus, they tried to realize the old dream of alchemists, the transformation of one substance into another. In 1934, French scientists Frederic and Irene Joliot-Curie, when bombarding aluminum with alpha particles (helium atom nuclei), obtained radioactive phosphorus atoms, which, in turn, turned into a stable silicon isotope of a heavier element than aluminum. The idea arose to conduct a similar experiment with the heaviest natural element, uranium, discovered in 1789 by Martin Klaproth. After Henri Becquerel discovered the radioactivity of uranium salts in 1896, scientists were seriously interested in this element.

E. Rutherford.

Mushroom nuclear explosion.

In 1938, the German chemists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann conducted an experiment similar to the Joliot-Curie experiment, however, taking uranium instead of aluminum, they hoped to obtain a new superheavy element. However, the result was unexpected: instead of superheavy, light elements from the middle part of the periodic table were obtained. Some time later, the physicist Lisa Meitner suggested that the bombardment of uranium with neutrons leads to the splitting (fission) of its nucleus, resulting in the nuclei of light elements and a certain number of free neutrons.

Further studies have shown that natural uranium consists of a mixture of three isotopes, with uranium-235 being the least stable of them. From time to time, the nuclei of its atoms spontaneously divide into parts, this process is accompanied by the release of two or three free neutrons, which rush at a speed of about 10 thousand kms. The nuclei of the most common isotope-238 in most cases simply capture these neutrons, less often uranium is converted into neptunium and then into plutonium-239. When a neutron hits the nucleus of uranium-2 3 5, its new fission immediately occurs.

It was obvious: if you take a large enough piece of pure (enriched) uranium-235, the nuclear fission reaction in it will go like an avalanche, this reaction was called a chain reaction. Each nuclear fission releases a huge amount of energy. It was calculated that with the complete fission of 1 kg of uranium-235, the same amount of heat is released as when burning 3 thousand tons of coal. This colossal release of energy, released in a matter of moments, was to manifest itself as an explosion of monstrous force, which, of course, immediately interested the military departments.

The Joliot-Curies. 1940s

L. Meitner and O. Hahn. 1925

Before the outbreak of World War II, Germany and some other countries carried out highly classified work on the creation of nuclear weapons. In the United States, research designated as the "Manhattan Project" started in 1941; a year later, the world's largest research laboratory was founded in Los Alamos. The project was administratively subordinated to General Groves, scientific leadership was carried out by University of California professor Robert Oppenheimer. The project was attended by the largest authorities in the field of physics and chemistry, including 13 Nobel Prize winners: Enrico Fermi, James Frank, Niels Bohr, Ernest Lawrence and others.

The main task was to obtain a sufficient amount of uranium-235. It was found that plutonium-2 39 could also serve as a charge for the bomb, so work was carried out in two directions at once. The accumulation of uranium-235 was to be carried out by separating it from the bulk of natural uranium, and plutonium could only be obtained as a result of a controlled nuclear reaction by irradiating uranium-238 with neutrons. Enrichment of natural uranium was carried out at the plants of the Westinghouse company, and for the production of plutonium it was necessary to build a nuclear reactor.

It was in the reactor that the process of irradiating uranium rods with neutrons took place, as a result of which part of the uranium-238 was supposed to turn into plutonium. The sources of neutrons were fissile atoms of uranium-235, but the capture of neutrons by uranium-238 prevented the chain reaction from starting. The discovery of Enrico Fermi, who discovered that neutrons slowed down to a speed of 22 ms, caused a chain reaction of uranium-235, but were not captured by uranium-238, helped solve the problem. As a moderator, Fermi proposed a 40-cm layer of graphite or heavy water, which includes the hydrogen isotope deuterium.

R. Oppenheimer and Lieutenant General L. Groves. 1945 g.

Calutron at Oak Ridge.

An experimental reactor was built in 1942 under the stands of the Chicago Stadium. On December 2, its successful experimental launch took place. A year later, a new enrichment plant was built in the city of Oak Ridge and a reactor for the industrial production of plutonium was launched, as well as a calutron device for the electromagnetic separation of uranium isotopes. The total cost of the project was about $2 billion. Meanwhile, at Los Alamos, work was going on directly on the device of the bomb and methods for detonating the charge.

On June 16, 1945, near the city of Alamogordo in the state of New Mexico, during tests codenamed Trinity (“Trinity”), the world's first nuclear device with a plutonium charge and an implosive (using chemical explosives for detonation) detonation scheme was detonated. The power of the explosion was equivalent to an explosion of 20 kilotons of TNT.

The next step was combat use nuclear weapons against Japan, which, after the surrender of Germany, alone continued the war against the United States and its allies. On August 6, an Enola Gay B-29 bomber, under the control of Colonel Tibbets, dropped a Little Boy (“baby”) bomb on Hiroshima with a uranium charge and a cannon (using the connection of two blocks to create a critical mass) detonation scheme. The bomb was parachuted down and exploded at an altitude of 600 m from the ground. On August 9, Major Sweeney's Box Car aircraft dropped the Fat Man plutonium bomb on Nagasaki. The consequences of the explosions were terrible. Both cities were almost completely destroyed, more than 200 thousand people died in Hiroshima, about 80 thousand in Nagasaki. Later, one of the pilots admitted that they saw at that moment the most terrible thing that a person can see. Unable to resist the new weapons, the Japanese government capitulated.

Hiroshima after the atomic bombing.

The explosion of the atomic bomb put an end to World War II, but in fact began a new cold war, accompanied by an unbridled nuclear arms race. Soviet scientists had to catch up with the Americans. In 1943, a secret "laboratory No. 2" was created, headed by the famous physicist Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov. Later, the laboratory was transformed into the Institute of Atomic Energy. In December 1946, the first chain reaction was carried out at the experimental nuclear uranium-graphite reactor F1. Two years later, the first plutonium plant with several industrial reactors was built in the Soviet Union, and in August 1949, a test explosion of the first Soviet atomic bomb with a plutonium charge RDS-1 with a capacity of 22 kilotons was carried out at the Semipalatinsk test site.

In November 1952, on the Enewetok Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, the United States detonated the first thermonuclear charge, the destructive power of which arose due to the energy released during the nuclear fusion of light elements into heavier ones. Nine months later, at the Semipalatinsk test site, Soviet scientists tested the RDS-6 thermonuclear, or hydrogen, 400-kiloton bomb developed by a group of scientists led by Andrei Dmitrievich Sakharov and Yuli Borisovich Khariton. In October 1961, a 50-megaton Tsar Bomba, the most powerful hydrogen bomb ever tested, was detonated at the test site of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.

I. V. Kurchatov.

At the end of the 2000s, the United States had approximately 5,000 and Russia 2,800 nuclear weapons on deployed strategic launchers, as well as a significant number of tactical nuclear weapons. This reserve is enough to destroy the entire planet several times. Just one thermonuclear bomb of average yield (about 25 megatons) is equal to 1,500 Hiroshima.

In the late 1970s, research was underway to create a neutron weapon, a type of low-yield nuclear bomb. A neutron bomb differs from a conventional nuclear bomb in that it artificially increases the portion of the explosion energy that is released in the form of neutron radiation. This radiation affects the manpower of the enemy, affects his weapons and creates radioactive contamination of the area, while the impact of the shock wave and light radiation is limited. However, not a single army in the world has taken neutron charges into service.

Although the use of atomic energy has brought the world to the brink of destruction, it also has a peaceful side, although it is extremely dangerous when it gets out of control, this was clearly shown by the accidents at the Chernobyl and Fukushima nuclear power plants. The world's first nuclear power plant with a capacity of only 5 MW was launched on June 27, 1954 in the village of Obninskoye, Kaluga Region (now the city of Obninsk). To date, more than 400 nuclear power plants are in operation in the world, 10 of them in Russia. They generate about 17% of the world's electricity, and this figure is likely to only increase. At present, the world cannot do without the use of nuclear energy, but we want to believe that in the future, humanity will find a safer source of energy supply.

Control panel of the nuclear power plant in Obninsk.

Chernobyl after the disaster.