Central nuclear test site of Russia. Nuclear test sites: Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation USSR atomic test sites
July 29, 1985 general secretary The Central Committee of the CPSU Mikhail Gorbachev announced the decision of the USSR unilaterally to stop any nuclear explosions before January 1, 1986. We decided to talk about five famous nuclear test sites that existed in the USSR.
Semipalatinsk test site
The Semipalatinsk test site is one of the largest nuclear test sites in the USSR. It also came to be known as SNTS. The landfill is located in Kazakhstan, 130 km north-west of Semipalatinsk, on the left bank of the Irtysh River. The area of the landfill is 18,500 square kilometers. The formerly closed city of Kurchatov is located on its territory. The Semipalatinsk test site is famous for the fact that the first test of a nuclear weapon in the Soviet Union was carried out here. The test was carried out on August 29, 1949. The power of the bomb was 22 kilotons.
On August 12, 1953, the RDS-6s thermonuclear charge with a capacity of 400 kilotons was tested at the test site. The charge was placed on a tower 30 m above the ground. As a result of this test, a part of the landfill was very heavily contaminated with radioactive explosion products, and there is still a small background in some places. On November 22, 1955, a test was carried out over the landfill. thermonuclear bomb RDS-37. It was dropped by an airplane at an altitude of about 2 km. On October 11, 1961, the first underground nuclear explosion in the USSR was carried out at the test site. From 1949 to 1989, at least 468 nuclear tests were carried out at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, including 125 atmospheric, 343 underground nuclear test explosions.
Nuclear tests at the test site have not been carried out since 1989.
Polygon on Novaya Zemlya
The polygon on Novaya Zemlya was opened in 1954. Unlike the Semipalatinsk test site, it was removed from settlements... The nearest large settlement - the village of Amderma - was located 300 km from the landfill, Arkhangelsk - more than 1000 km, Murmansk - more than 900 km.
From 1955 to 1990, 135 nuclear explosions were carried out at the test site: 87 in the atmosphere, 3 underwater and 42 underground. In 1961, the most powerful hydrogen bomb in the history of mankind was detonated on Novaya Zemlya - the 58-megaton Tsar Bomba, also known as the Kuzkina Mother.
In August 1963, the USSR and the USA signed an agreement banning nuclear tests in three environments: in the atmosphere, space and under water. Limitations on the power of the charges were also adopted. Underground explosions continued until 1990.
Totsk polygon
The Totsk test site is located in the Volga-Ural military district, 40 km east of the city of Buzuluk. In 1954, tactical exercises of troops under the code name "Snowball" were held here. Marshal Georgy Zhukov supervised the exercises. The purpose of the exercise was to test the capabilities of breaking through enemy defenses using nuclear weapons. The materials related to these exercises have not yet been declassified.
During the exercises on September 14, 1954, a Tu-4 bomber dropped from a height of 8 km nuclear bomb RDS-2 with a capacity of 38 kilotons in TNT equivalent. The explosion was made at an altitude of 350 m. 600 tanks, 600 armored personnel carriers and 320 aircraft were sent to attack the contaminated area. The total number of servicemen who took part in the exercises was about 45 thousand people. As a result of the exercise, thousands of its participants received various doses of radiation. A nondisclosure agreement was taken from the participants in the exercises, which led to the fact that the victims could not tell doctors about the causes of the diseases and receive adequate treatment.
Kapustin Yar
The Kapustin Yar landfill is located in the northwestern part of the Astrakhan region. The proving ground was created on May 13, 1946 to test the first Soviet ballistic missiles.
Since the 1950s, at least 11 nuclear explosions have been carried out at the Kapustin Yar test site at an altitude of 300 m to 5.5 km, the total yield of which is approximately 65 atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima. On January 19, 1957, a type 215 anti-aircraft missile was tested at the test site. It had a 10 kiloton nuclear warhead designed to combat the main US nuclear strike force - strategic aviation. The rocket exploded at an altitude of about 10 km, hitting target aircraft - two Il-28 bombers, controlled by radio control. This was the first high air nuclear explosion in the USSR.
It ended on August 29, 1949 after a successful test in the USSR at a test site in the Semipalatinsk region of Kazakhstan of a stationary nuclear explosive device with a capacity of about 22 kilotons.
Subsequently, the Semipalatinsk test site was created in this area - the first and one of the largest nuclear test sites in the USSR. The nuclear test site is located in Kazakhstan on the border of the Semipalatinsk, Pavlodar and Karaganda regions, 130 kilometers northwest of Semipalatinsk, on the left bank of the Irtysh River. Its area was 18,500 km².
The creation of the test site was part of the atomic project, and the choice was made, as it turned out later, very successful - the terrain made it possible to carry out underground nuclear explosions both in adits and in wells.
From 1949 to 1989, more than 600 nuclear tests were carried out at the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site, in which they exploded: 125 atmospheric (26 ground, 91 air, 8 high-altitude), 343 underground nuclear explosions (of which 215 in adits and 128 in wells). The total power of nuclear charges tested in the period from 1949 to 1963 at the Semipalatinsk test site was 2500 times higher than the power of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. Nuclear tests in Kazakhstan were discontinued in 1989.
Google Earth snapshot: site of the first Soviet nuclear explosion
The nuclear test site is divided into six test fields. At site number 1, where the first Soviet nuclear explosion was actually carried out, atomic and thermonuclear charges were tested. During the tests, in order to assess the effect of damaging factors, buildings and structures (including bridges), as well as various shelters and shelters, were erected at the test site. At other sites, ground, air and underground explosions of varying power were conducted.
Some of the ground and underground explosions turned out to be "dirty", as a result of which there was a significant radiation pollution of the eastern part of the territory of Kazakhstan. At the test site itself, in the places where ground and underground nuclear tests are carried out, the radiation background reaches 10-20 milliroentgens per hour. People still live in the territories adjacent to the landfill. The territory of the landfill is currently not guarded and until 2006 was not marked in any way on the ground. The population has used and continues to use a significant part of the landfill land for grazing livestock and growing crops.
Google Earth snapshot: a lake formed by a land-based nuclear explosion
From the late 90s to 2012, several joint secret operations took place at the test site, which were carried out by Kazakhstan, Russia and the United States to search for and collect radioactive materials, in particular, about 200 kg of plutonium that remained at the test site (unexploded nuclear charges), as well as equipment used to create and test nuclear weapons. The presence of this plutonium and the exact information about the operation were hidden from the IAEA and the world community. The landfill was practically not guarded, and the plutonium collected on it could be used for acts of nuclear terrorism or transferred to third countries to create nuclear weapons.
Another major Soviet nuclear test site was located on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. The first nuclear test took place here on September 21, 1955. It was an underwater explosion with a capacity of 3.5 kilotons carried out in the interests of the Navy. On Novaya Zemlya in 1961, the most powerful hydrogen bomb in humanity was detonated - the 58-megaton Tsar Bomb on the site located on the Sukhoi Nos peninsula. At the test site, 135 nuclear explosions were carried out: 87 in the atmosphere (of which 84 were air, 1 ground, 2 surface), 3 underwater and 42 underground.
Officially, the range occupied more than half of the island. That is, nuclear charges exploded in an area approximately equal to the area of the Netherlands. After the signing in August 1963 of the treaty banning nuclear tests in the atmosphere, outer space and under water, only underground tests were carried out at the test site until 1990.
Google Earth snapshot: entrance to the adit where nuclear tests were carried out
Currently, they are only engaged in research in the field of nuclear weapons systems (Matochkin Shar facility). Unfortunately, this part of the Novaya Zemlya archipelago is “pixelated” on satellite images and cannot be seen.
In addition to testing nuclear weapons, the territory of Novaya Zemlya in 1957-1992 was used for the disposal of radioactive waste. Basically, these were containers with spent nuclear fuel and reactor plants from submarines and surface ships of the Northern Fleet of the Soviet and Russian Navy, as well as icebreakers with nuclear power plants.
Nuclear tests were carried out in other parts of the USSR as well. So on September 14, 1954, tactical exercises using nuclear weapons were held at the Totsk test site. The purpose of the exercise was to practice breaking through the enemy's echeloned defense using nuclear weapons.
During the exercise, a Tu-4 bomber dropped an RDS-2 nuclear bomb with a yield of 38 kilotons of TNT from an altitude of 8,000 meters. The total number of servicemen who took part in the exercises was about 45 thousand people.
Google Earth snapshot: the place at the Totsk test site, over which a nuclear bomb exploded
At present, a memorial sign has been erected at the point over which the nuclear explosion took place. The radiation level in this area differs little from natural background values and does not pose a threat to life and health.
In May 1946, the Kapustin Yar test site was created to test the first Soviet ballistic missiles in the northwestern part of the Astrakhan region. The area of the landfill is currently about 650 km².
At the test site, the tests of ballistic missiles continued: R-1, R-2, R-5, R-12, R-14, etc. In subsequent years, a large number of various short and medium-range missiles, cruise missiles and air defense systems. At Kapustin Yar, 177 samples of military equipment were tested and about 24 thousand guided missiles were launched.
Google Earth snapshot: test site of the Kapustin Yar air defense system
In addition to the tests themselves, light satellites of the Cosmos series were launched from the test site. At present, the Kapustin Yar test site is designated as the “Fourth State Central Interspecific Test Site”.
Google Earth snapshot: the site at the Kapustin Yar test site, over which an aerial nuclear explosion took place
Since the 1950s, at least 11 air nuclear explosions have been carried out at the Kapustin Yar test site.
In January 1955, the construction of launch sites and infrastructure for launching R-7 ICBMs began near the Tyuratam station. The official birthday of the Baikonur cosmodrome is considered June 2, 1955, when the staff structure of the Fifth Research Test Site was approved by the General Staff directive. The total area of the cosmodrome is 6717 km².
May 15, 1957 - the first test launch (unsuccessful) of the R-7 rocket from the range took place, three months later, on August 21, 1957, the first successful launch took place, the rocket delivered simulated ammunition to the Kamchatka Kura range.
Google Earth snapshot: launch pad for R-7 launch vehicles
Soon, on October 4, 1957, after the launch of the first artificial satellite into orbit, the rocket range became a cosmodrome.
Google Earth snapshot: Zenit launch pad
In addition to launching vehicles for various purposes into space, ICBMs and various launch vehicles were tested at Baikonur. In addition, R-7 ICBMs equipped with a thermonuclear charge in the early 60s were on alert at the launch pad. Subsequently, silos for the R-36 ICBM were erected in the vicinity of the cosmodrome.
Google Earth snapshot: destroyed silo ICBM R-36
In total, over the years of operation, Baikonur has launched more than 1,500 spacecraft for various purposes and more than 100 intercontinental ballistic missiles, tested 38 types of rockets, more than 80 types of spacecraft and their modifications. In 1994, the Baikonur cosmodrome was leased to Russia.
In 1956, the Sary-Shagan test site was created in Kazakhstan for the development of missile defense systems. The main criteria for choosing a site for the landfill were: the presence of a sparsely populated flat, treeless area, a large number of cloudless days, and the absence of valuable farmland. The area of the landfill during the Soviet era was 81,200 km².
Google Earth snapshot: "Don-2NP" missile defense radar at the Sary-Shagan training ground
All Soviet and Russian anti-missile systems designed to build a strategic anti-missile defense against intercontinental ballistic missiles were tested at the test site. A test complex for the development and testing of high-power laser weapons was also created at Sary-Shagan.
Google Earth snapshot: "Neman" missile defense radar at the "Sary-Shagan" training ground
At the moment, a significant part of the landfill infrastructure has fallen into decay or looted. In 1996, an Agreement was signed between the government Russian Federation and the Government of the Republic of Kazakhstan on the lease of part of the Sary-Shagan test site. Test launches at the range by the Russian military are rare, no more than 1-2 times a year.
The northernmost cosmodrome in the world is Plesetsk, also known as the First State Testing Cosmodrome. It is located 180 kilometers south of Arkhangelsk near the railway station Plesetskaya Severnaya railroad... The cosmodrome covers an area of 176,200 hectares.
The cosmodrome dates back to January 11, 1957, when the Resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR was adopted on the creation of a military facility with the code name "Angara". The cosmodrome was created as the first military rocket formation in the USSR, armed with R-7 and R-7A intercontinental ballistic missiles.
Satellite image of Google Earth: Soyuz launch pad at the Plesetsk cosmodrome
In 1964, test launches of RT-2 ICBMs began from Plesetsk. At present, it is from here that most of the test and control-training launches of Russian ICBMs are carried out.
The cosmodrome has stationary technical and launch complexes for domestic light and medium-class launch vehicles: Rokot, Cyclone-3, Kosmos-3M and Soyuz.
From the 70s to the early 90s, the Plesetsk cosmodrome held the world leadership in the number of rocket launches into space (from 1957 to 1993, 1,372 launches were made from here, while only 917 from Baikonur, which is in second place). However, since the 1990s, the annual number of launches from Plesetsk has become less than from Baikonur.
At the military airfield "Akhtubinsk" in the Astrakhan region is located the office of the State Flight Test Center of the Ministry of Defense named after V. P. Chkalov (929 GLITs of the Air Force). The airfield is located on the northeastern outskirts of the city of the same name.
At the airfield there are practically all types of combat aircraft in service with the Russian Air Force. In 2013, a new concrete runway with dimensions of 4000x65 m was built at the airport. The construction cost was 4.3 billion rubles. Part of the old runway is used for storing aircraft.
Satellite image of Google Earth: combat aircraft at the Akhtubinsk airfield
The largest air range in Russia, Groshevo (Vladimirovka), is located 20 km from the airfield. The aviation range is adjacent to the Kapustin Yar missile range. There is a well-equipped target complex that allows you to practice combat use and test a wide range of aircraft weapons.
Satellite image of Google Earth: craters at the aviation range
In the Moscow region there is the Ramenskoye airfield, which is capable of receiving any type of aircraft without limiting the takeoff weight. The main runway of the airfield is the longest not only in Russia, but also in Europe (5403 m).
Satellite image of Google Earth: Su-47 "Berkut" at the airfield "Ramenskoye"
In "Ramenskoye" - is an experimental (test) aerodrome of the LII named after Gromova. It is here that most of the Russian military aviation systems (including the PAK T-50) are tested. Here is a large collection of serial and experimental aircraft of domestic production.
Satellite image of Google Earth: MAKS-2011
In addition to test flights, the airfield is used by civil aviation as an international cargo airport, and the International Aviation and Space Salon (MAKS) is also held at the airport on odd years.
At the Lipetsk-2 airfield, 8 kilometers west of the city center of Lipetsk, there is the Lipetsk Center for Combat Use and Retraining of Flight Personnel of the VP Chkalov Air Force.
Satellite image of Google Earth: combat aircraft of the "Su" family in Lipetsk
There are all types of combat aircraft in service with the front-line aviation of the Russian Air Force. There is also a significant number of combat aircraft "in storage" here, the service life of which has come to an end.
Satellite image of Google Earth: combat aircraft "in storage" in Lipetsk
From all of the above, it is clear that our country has a full-fledged test base: missile and aviation ranges and combat training centers. This allows, given the political will and allocated resources, to create and fully test the most modern missile and aviation technology.
Based on materials:
http://uzm.spb.ru/archive/nz_nuke.htm
http://geimint.blogspot.com
Satellite imagery courtesy of Google Earth
On July 29, 2000, the last mine of the Semipalatinsk nuclear test site (SNTS) was blown up. It happened 9 years after its official closure. However, the history of the landfill did not end there. Roughly the same inertial processes are observed at a number of other test sites that have served their militaristic age.
Scary tales of the collapse
The first Soviet nuclear test site was opened in 1949 in Semipalatinsk regions of Kazakhstan. For a long time, tests of nuclear and thermonuclear charges were carried out on it, the power of which was not so great as to cause serious cataclysms in terms of destruction and radioactive infestation outside the landfill.
The Semipalatinsk test site, located in the steppes of Kazakhstan, occupied the second place in the world in terms of area after the "Novaya Zemlya" test site. It spreads over 18,500 sq. Km. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, many horrors were spoken about him as an instrument of the "cannibalistic policy of Moscow", many of which do not stand up to criticism.
At the SNTP, as at the test site in Nevada, for the time being, both air and ground detonations of nuclear charges were carried out. Then, after signing a moratorium on dirty tests, they switched to underground tests.
Window view of the trials from Los Angeles (LA).
Miss Atomic Bomb, Las Vegas.
At the same time, they tried to minimize the influence of negative factors on the indigenous population living in the area of the landfill. In Nevada, the public flocked to Las Vegas, from where the mushroom cloud was perfectly visible. The public was lured in order to cut off more profits from it, stimulating "nuclear tourism". At the same time, the military this process of unsafe rotozeism in no way did not regulate.
But at the same time, since 1949, almost half as many charges have been detonated in Kazakhstan as the Americans in the Nevada desert alone: 488 versus 928. The military did not care that radioactive fallout mainly fell on St. George, Utah, where the level of cancer much higher than the national average.
In all fairness, it should be said that the Soviet organizational measures were not always effective. Musician Sergei Letov (Yegor's brother) recalled how in the 60s he spent the summer with his grandmother near Semipalatinsk. After the "emergency" tests, the surrounding villages were driven by an officer in a Gazik, who demanded that the tomato crop be buried in the ground. However, there were not so many "madmen" who fulfilled this "ridiculous" requirement.
People are dying for metal
The SNTS was officially closed in August 1991. To a certain extent, this was facilitated by vigorous activity. social movement"Nevada - Semipalatinsk". However, no one thinks to close the landfill in Nevada even now. Although nuclear explosions on it were stopped at the end of 1992.
The SNTP began to dismantle the equipment and withdraw the military contingent. In 1994, the last Soviet soldier, which was already called Russian, left the independent state. There was no one to guard the landfill. And immediately chaos reigned.
Crowds of poor citizens poured into the landfill in search of scrap metal, for which a lot of money could be bailed out. The most valuable was copper wire, which was in tunnels with off-scale radiation. According to various sources, from 10 to 20 people soon died from radiation sickness. Receiving non-fatal but hazardous doses, no one did not register.
In 1996, Kazakh and American specialists began blocking the entrances to 186 tunnels and mines with powerful reinforced concrete blocks. The enormous work worth several million dollars was completed on July 29, 2000.
However, it was not easy to stop the elements of the people. In 2004, it turned out that all the titanic work had gone to dust. With the help of explosives and powerful bulldozers, the "scrap mafia" unblocked 110 tunnels. It was at this time that the topic of the "terrorist bomb" gained great relevance. And according to calculations, in the rocks of the landfill there was a significant amount of unreacted plutonium that had melted with the rock. And it was dangerous, since the "forces of international evil" could well get this material to make a "dirty bomb".
Russia acknowledged its partial responsibility. And the collection of dirty plutonium and its disposal began. These works were carried out bypassing the IAEA. And the information about their results is limited. It is only known that, relatively speaking, "all" plutonium has become inaccessible to terrorists.
After the completion of this stage, they began to solve the problem of public safety. In 2014, work was completed on the construction of engineering protection for some of the most contaminated areas of the landfill to prevent access to them by people and livestock.
But by now, the "metalworkers" have dug up all abandoned sites and communication lines and energy supply the polygons left by Russia. The results of these "investigations" I happened on Emba and in Sary-Shagan.
And starting from 2017, Kazakhstan will start making very serious money at the test site. In two years, a bank of low-enriched uranium used in nuclear power will start operating here. The bank will accumulate and store uranium, which will be shipped to them at the request of international consumers. The sponsoring states, including the United States, Norway, the United Arab Emirates, the EU, Kuwait, intend to allocate $ 150 million to Kazakhstan for the creation of a bank. Of course, this does not require the entire landfill area. The sponsors presented this generous gift to Kazakhstan because the republic has experience of work with radioactive materials.
Colonial history
The situation with the first nuclear test site in France is somewhat similar from Semipalatinsk. The French, in the absence of their own union republic, chose the colony - Algeria as a place for air tests of atomic bombs. But the operating time of their first test site is much shorter, since Algeria declared independence only two years after the first explosion in the Sahara.
Moreover, it was not a deserted desert, but the Regan oasis in the center of the Sahara, in which more than 20 thousand Algerians lived. Of course, it would be possible to create a polygon in a completely deserted place, but due to lack of of any infrastructure, the construction of the test camp and test sites would be much more expensive.
In Regan in 1960–61, they managed to carry out 4 very dirty aboveground explosions. The bomb was installed on metal farm. Naturally, aboriginal people about nothing did not warn and they did not bury radioactive tomatoes in the ground. The French left Regan, leaving everything as it is. And the Algerians rushed to the test site to disassemble metal structures for household needs. By now, not a trace has remained of these structures. No one kept a record of the sick. True, Algeria, since the 80s, has been trying to sue France for compensation for the victims. But there are no results yet.
Before moving to Polynesia, where the French also had colonial possessions, de Gaulle signed a secret agreement with the President of Algeria, according to which the landfill was moved to the south of the country - to the granite plateau of Hoggar - the homeland of the Tuaregs. The new test facility was named In-Ecker. Here 1961-1966. 13 underground nuclear tests were carried out. Everything was going in the best possible way, until physicists made a mistake with the calculation of the power - instead of 20 kilotons, all 100 exploded. The result was a monstrous release of radioactive lava, and a deadly cloud began to spread rapidly. In this connection, it was necessary to urgently evacuate all the personnel of the landfill. Naturally, the Algerians were not informed of anything for reasons of secrecy. And the French left In-Ecker as swiftly as the Regan training ground, leaving everything as it is.
Further tests were carried out on the attols of Murorua (in 1966-1996 179 nuclear tests were carried out, including 42 atmospheric and 137 underground) and Fangatauf (in 1966-1996, 14 nuclear tests were carried out, including 4 atmospheric and 10 underground) ...
Approximately the same way acted and UK, which, due to its metropolitan compactness, was not able to detonate bombs in the British Isles. But on endless colonial territories were where to develop in full force.
They were the first
In the USA it is much more spacious. In addition, there is a sparsely populated desert of Nevada, where the main American training ground was built. Only the first explosion of an analogue of the Hiroshima bomb was carried out in Alamogordo, since the Americans were in a great hurry to be the first to get hold of the bomb. And in the vicinity this town had several large military bases, which greatly simplified the construction of a test site and the corresponding scientific and technical infrastructure. After the first explosion, which was named "Trinity", the Alamogordo test site was transferred to the military for testing other types of weapons.
Then the USA, like Great Britain, moved to the atolls in the Pacific Ocean. Where the most powerful American 15-megaton hydrogen bomb was detonated. And finally, in 1951, the Nevada landfill began operating at full capacity. True, the Americans did not detonate charges of a quarter of the power of the Soviet "Kuzkina Mother" at home.
But Britain was allowed into Nevada for testing (24 underground nuclear tests), which had previously conducted explosions in South Australia (12 air explosions) and Polynesia (9 air tests).
As already mentioned, 928 tests were carried out in Nevada before 1992. Satellite images of the polygon resemble the landscape of the moon, pitted with craters.
The largest has a diameter of 400 meters and a depth of 100 meters (Operation Plow). Tourists who visit the test site are delighted.
However, the Nevada test site is by no means abandoned. The military is still here, testing non-nuclear weapons. Tourists are strictly prohibited from using photo and video equipment, take with you mobile phones and binoculars. It is also prohibited to remove stones and soil from the landfill. It is quite clear that the Americans have retained all the facilities and equipment necessary for nuclear tests.
Soviet nuclear scientists had to experience much more powerful weapon that could unravel in Semipalatinsk half of the fraternal republic. Therefore, a number of requirements were imposed on the new landfill to ensure the safety of the "surrounding world": the maximum distance from large settlements and communications, the minimum impact on the subsequent economic and economic activities of the region after the closure of the landfill. It was also required to conduct a study of the effect of a nuclear explosion on ships and submarines, which the Semipalatinsk steppes could not provide.
The Novaya Zemlya archipelago best suited these and a number of other requirements. Its area was more than four times larger than the Semipalatinsk test site and was equal to 85 thousand square meters. km., which is approximately equal to the area of the Netherlands.
The nuclear test site is by no means an open field onto which bombers or missiles drop their deadly cargo, but a whole complex of complex engineering structures and administrative services. These include the experimental scientific and engineering service, energy services and water supply, an air defense division, a transport aviation detachment, a division of ships and special-purpose vessels, a rescue service detachment, communication centers, logistics support units, living quarters ....
Three test sites (battle fields) were created at the test site: Black Lip, Matochkin Shar and Sukhoi Nos.
In the summer of 1954, were delivered to the archipelago 10 military construction battalions, which began to build the first site - Black Lip. The builders spent the Arctic winter in canvas tents, preparing Guba for an underwater explosion, scheduled for September 1955 - the first in the USSR. By the way, the legends about the camps on Novaya - only legends. ZK to work never were not involved.
In the period from September 21, 1955 to October 24, 1990, when the moratorium on nuclear tests came into effect, 132 nuclear explosions were carried out on Novaya Zemlya: 87 atmospheric, 3 underwater and 42 underground. This is very little in comparison from Semipalatinsk statistics, where there were 468 tests. 616 nuclear and thermonuclear charges were detonated on them.
However, the total power of all northern explosions is 94% of the power of all test explosions conducted in the Soviet Union.
But at the same time, much less harm was done to the surrounding nature, since the first Semipalatinsk explosions were extremely dirty. At that time, they were in a great hurry with the release of the bomb and did not pay attention to such "trifles" as contamination of the soil, atmosphere, water bodies and the defeat of not only the military personnel who participated in the tests, but also the inhabitants of the surrounding villages. More precisely, they considered it "the tenth thing."
The comparative radiation safety of northern explosions is explained by the fact that the overwhelming majority of them were thermonuclear, they did not scatter heavy radioactive isotopes into the surrounding space.
The problem of the population, which could suffer from the explosions, was solved radically: 298 Nenets hunters who lived there were evicted from the archipelago, providing them with housing in Arkhangelsk, as well as in the village of Amderma and on the Kolguev island. At the same time, the migrants were employed, and the elderly were given a pension, despite the fact that they did not have any official work experience. From the recollections of my father, I know that not everyone agreed to move and fled, and their winter quarters and camps were then discovered after the tests on the trail of radiation. But there were only a few of them.
The test site became famous for the 58 megaton superbomb test, which took place on October 30, 1961. The bomb is called both "Kuz'kina's mother" and "Tsar-bomb", while the developers at Research Institute 1011 called it "item 602" (the names RN202, AN602 are media inventions).
Both developers and military specialists in connection with the unique cnm. charge designs could only predict test results with a certain degree of probability. Because even with regard to the force of the explosion, there was no clear picture. The design capacity was 51.5 Mt. But after the explosion of an 8-meter-long bomb, which did not even fit into the bomb bay of the largest strategic bomber Tu-95 (called Tu-95V), which was converted especially for it, it turned out that it exploded with a power of 58.6 Mt.
New for the testers was the effect in which a shock wave, reflected from the surface of the earth, did not allow a giant ball of incandescent plasma to cover it.
The various effects were monstrous, comparable to the most terrifying natural ones. The seismic wave circled the globe three times. The light radiation was capable of causing third-degree burns at a distance of 100 km. The crash from the explosion was heard within a radius of 800 km. Due to ionizing Exposure Europe experienced radio interference for 40 minutes.
That being said, the test turned out to be surprisingly clean. Radioactive radiation within a radius of three kilometers from the epicenter two hours after the explosion was only 1 milliroentgen per hour.
By the way, there is a legend about the "brilliant" idea of Academician Sakharov that the US coast can be washed into the ocean by a tsunami by an explosion of a supernuclear torpedo of such power. And that supposedly only the moral considerations of the "peacemaker" deterred from creating such a weapon. This is one of the many legends about his genius, right up to the title of "father of the hydrogen bomb", created by his anti-Soviet entourage in the 60s and 70s.
In fact, this idea was tested off the coast of Novaya Zemlya, at a much lower capacity. In 1964, 8 such experiments were carried out. The first was attended by the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy S.G. Gorshkov.
- Outwardly, the development of the explosion was unusually beautiful. A dome of water formed over the epicenter of the explosion. A light sultan escaped from the dome vertically upward, at the top of which a mushroom cloud began to form. At the base of the dome, a basic wave formed from the water and a surface wave went to the coast.
However, after the eighth simulation explosion, it became clear that it was impossible to generate a tsunami with the help of underwater nuclear explosions. And, consequently, the United States was very lucky, while Sakharov was mistaken.
The Russian nuclear test site on Novaya Zemlya, as well as the Nevada nuclear test site, did not become a museum or a mothballed territory, it is closed for visits, military and scientists work there, and it continues to be maintained in a combat-ready state. Everything there remained in the same form as before the moratorium on nuclear tests. And they do not arrange excursions to the landfill. Non-nuclear experiments are carried out at the test site to ensure the reliability, combat effectiveness and safety of the storage of Russian nuclear weapons. Object 700 is still in service.
Russia's nuclear shield
Novaya Zemlya Bora blew
Peaceful coexistence, Belushka
In the 90s, 80% of buildings were abandoned
Matochkin Shar july
Actually the landfill itself (residential part - the settlement of Severny. Matochkin Shar, 80s).
And the "capital" of the landfill - Belushya Guba is now experiencing a rebirth - dilapidated abandoned buildings of the 50-60s are demolished by explosions and new, more modern ones are being built - overhauled. Also, the rebirth came to the only civil-military airfield of the training ground - Rogachevo. The restoration of the air defense system of the entire region, which was practically eliminated in the 90s, is in full swing.
Anyone interested can take a virtual trip to the Novaya Zemlya test site
PS By the way, in 1987, by the will of fate, I got into an Abnormal situation 08/02/87
Almost a repeat of history with the French trial in Algeria 
** Shumilikha River, delta, 80s *
On November 9, 1968, the USSR conducted nuclear tests on Semipalatinsk polygon. This is the first and one of the largest nuclear test sites Soviet Union... We have compiled a selection of several more famous test sites.
1. Kapustin Yar. It was created on May 13, 1946 to carry out scientific research and testing of rocket technology. A historic event for the USSR is associated with this training ground. On October 18, 1947, a ballistic missile was launched on it for the first time. This day went down in history as an unforgettable milestone in the development of Soviet scientific and technical thought and became the starting point for domestic rocketry.
In July 1951, for the first time in the world, a rocket was launched from Kapustin Yar with animals on board - the dogs Dezik and Gypsy. In total, 48 dogs were launched into space from the test site. And the 1969 event marked the beginning of space exploration in the interests of the world community. On October 14, the first artificial earth satellite of the Interkosmos series was launched at the test site.
Note that "Kapustin Yar" and in our time is one of the largest research and development centers.
2. New Earth. A training ground was created on the archipelago, which included three sites: Chornaya Guba, Matochkin Shar, D-II SIPNZ on the Sukhoi Nos peninsula. Black Lip is known for the fact that on September 21, 1955, the first underwater nuclear explosion in the USSR was made there at a depth of 12 meters. But the explosion of the Tsar Bomba, also known as the Kuzkina Mother, is famous more than the others. This is a 50 megaton bomb. The consequences were dire. The perceptible seismic wave from the explosion circled the globe three times. Witnesses felt the impact and were able to describe the explosion thousands of kilometers from its center. The explosion mushroom mushroom rose to a height of 67 kilometers, the diameter of its two-tier "cap" reached (at the upper tier) 95 kilometers. Fire ball explosion reached a radius of approximately 4.6 kilometers.
In total, from 1955 to 1990, 135 nuclear explosions were carried out at the test site. In 1998, the training ground was transferred to the Ministry of Defense.
3. Semipalatinsk test site. This is one of the most famous and largest training grounds in the USSR. It brought a lot of problems to the residents living next to it, and also polluted large areas of Kazakhstan and Russia. Over 40 years, 456 nuclear explosions have been made. Moreover, people continued to live in the vicinity of the landfill at that time. The population was exposed to radiation, eventually causing illness, premature death, and genetic diseases among the local population. The data collected by Soviet scientists during the tests are still classified.
Testing ended in 1991. However, people still inhabit the landfill. And this is the only such place in the world. The territory of the landfill is not guarded despite the fact that it continues to store thousands of open and latent threats to people.
4. Totsk polygon. It is located in the Orenburg region. On September 14, 1954, large-scale military exercises with the use of an atomic bomb were held on it. They were attended by 45 thousand servicemen. These teachings attached great importance. Marshals of the USSR gathered to watch the bomb drop, Chairman of the Council of Ministers Georgy Malenkov and First Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Nikita Khrushchev were present. Among the guests were the Yugoslav and Chinese military.
The bomb was dropped from a height of 8 kilometers. The power of the explosion was twice the power of the explosion of the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. During the exercise, something happened that no one had foreseen. The wind changed and carried the radioactive cloud not to the deserted steppe, as expected, but directly to Orenburg and further, in the direction of Krasnoyarsk. The results of the exercises were classified as "top secret." Therefore, the participants in the exercises dying from illness could not even tell the doctors about the causes of the illness.
V. N. Barakhtin Semipalatinsk nuclear test site: how to extinguish the echo of explosions?// Bulletin on Atomic Energy. - 2006. - No. 1. - S. 62-64.
SEMIPALATINSKY NUCLEAR RANGE: HOW TO EXTEND THE ECHO OF EXPLOSIONS?
Vianor BARAKHTIN
The official history of eliminating the consequences of the impact of nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site on public health Altai Territory began in 1992 after a visit to the region by Russian President Boris Yeltsin. On June 24, 1992, the Government of the Russian Federation issued Decree No. 428 "On measures to improve the health of the population and socio-economic development of the settlements of the Altai Territory located in the zone of influence of nuclear tests." Medical scientists played a huge role in the fact that this story did begin.
Then Professor Yakov Shoikhet, who held the post of vice-rector for scientific work of the Altai State Medical Institute, made a speech before the president and the leaders of the region. He presented the data obtained by scientists and doctors on the impact on the health of the population of the Altai Territory of nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site. The scientist's report was so convincing that the Russian president immediately instructed the government to immediately start implementing a set of measures to eliminate the negative impact of nuclear tests. According to the government decree, medical and social rehabilitation of the population exposed to radiation began, scientific research continued in the affected areas, on a larger scale and in depth.
Altai medical scientists, together with scientists from the Institute of Biophysics of the Ministry of Health of Russia and the Central Physicotechnical Institute of the Ministry of Defense (CIPT), not only estimated the radiation dose to population groups, depending on the place of residence, but also revealed dose-dependent effects in exposed individuals and their descendants. The researchers are convinced that the Semipalatinsk program should be extended to at least two generations of the offspring of the exposed. Today, the incidence in the Altai Territory is growing, but the mortality rate is below the average for Siberia. Yakov Shoikhet explains this by the high detection rate of pathology in the early stages, which was the result of equipping regional healthcare institutions with diagnostic equipment.
An equally important result of the implementation of the Semipalatinsk test site - Altai program was the development of a method for recovering radiation doses created at the CIPT. The method has been certified, approved by the Ministry of Health and can be used in other regions of Siberia affected by nuclear weapons tests. This is not only Kazakhstan and Altai Territory, but also Tyva, Khakassia, Krasnoyarsk Territory, Novosibirsk, Kemerovo, Irkutsk, Chita and Tomsk region.
Despite the implementation in the 1990s. of the state scientific program "Semipalatinsk test site - Altai", today the question of the radiation consequences of the test site for the population of other regions of Siberia remains unresolved. Now the work on identifying the main dose-forming traces and their consequences for the population is limited only to the territory of Altai. These traces are artificially cut off at the borders of neighboring regions. In the course of research, the effect of "remote fallout" from radiation clouds formed after nuclear explosions was discovered, but remains unexplored. Russian legislation is based on the negative consequences of only two explosions - August 29, 1949 and August 7, 1962, the traces of which have been studied only within the administrative boundaries of the Altai Territory. By the way, it was only during the implementation of the Altai program in 1993 that the stamp “Top secret, of special importance” was removed from the materials on these explosions. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the State Duma's appeal to the President of Russia (published in Rossiyskaya Gazeta on April 10, 1997) was adopted, in which the deputies asked to cancel the order of the Government of the Russian Federation containing a list of settlements in the Altai Territory affected by nuclear explosions. V
the text of the appeal states: “This order is based on the results of calculating radiation doses from two explosions out of 143 (August 29, 1949 and August 7, 1962), which contradicts the law on social protection of the population affected by radiation exposure and limits further work to identify victims territories (highlight ed.). The appeal did not provoke any reaction from the government.
The author (together with his colleague R. A. Yagudin) worked at the Semipalatinsk test site from 1967 to 1989, acting as an official representative of the former USSR State Hydrometeorological Committee - a member of the State Commission for the preparation and conduct of underground nuclear explosions.
The involvement of Novosibirsk meteorologists, who know the peculiarities of the local circulation of air masses, in this responsible work was associated with the need to fulfill the requirements of the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water, signed in 1963 in Moscow. One of the requirements of the agreement is to prevent the release of explosion products by atmospheric transfer abroad of the USSR for 3-5 days (if an accident occurred with the release of radioactivity into the atmosphere during underground explosions). There were no such cases, with the exception of the accident on January 14, 1965.
The radiation situation was monitored at the network of Goskomgidromet stations at 470 points the former USSR... At a number of points located around the test site, divisions of Roshydromet conducted daily aerial radiation reconnaissance using a Li-2 aircraft. In addition, the Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision Service carried out systematic radiation monitoring of the quality of water and food. A large amount of information was collected by geological parties involved in the exploration of uranium ores. All this information remained secret until 1989, which left its mark on the problem of studying the consequences of the landfill's activities on the surrounding territories and the population.
The leaders of a number of Siberian regions, including the Novosibirsk region, believed that the Altai program would simultaneously solve their problems. But that did not happen. No one knows for sure what dose load fell on the share of Siberians, whose territory also received precipitation and radionuclides from the Semipalatinsk and Novaya Zemlya test sites.
To solve this problem, on September 20, 1994, the Novosibirsk regional scientific program was adopted, which provides for the study of the consequences of radioactive contamination of the region's territory from nuclear tests. But since the program was funded for only three months, it was only found out which explosions had the most negative impact. A certain hope was sown by the Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 534, adopted on May 31, 1995. According to clause 19 of this document, a number of federal departments (EMERCOM of Russia, the State Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision Service, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Natural Resources, Roshydromet, the Ministry of Defense and the Administration of the Novosibirsk Region) were instructed to “ensure on the territory of the Novosibirsk region of scientific research related to the establishment of the degree of influence of nuclear
tests on the medical and demographic situation in the region, based on the results of which a set of measures to improve the health of the population and socio-economic development of settlements in the radiation-affected zone ”. For some reason, the regional leadership decided to transfer the scientific management of the problem to the Siberian branch of the Academy of Sciences and the Rosatomnadzor service, although this was not provided for in the government decree. Alternately, three academicians (V. Shumny, V. Trufakin and V. Lyakhovich) and the heads of the regional administration, replacing one another, were unable to obtain federal funding for the work.
The irradiation doses to the population of the region as the main evidence-based effect of radiation exposure have not been calculated. As a result, the decision taken following the results of the regional scientific program was not fulfilled: to transfer to the EMERCOM of Russia the data obtained by SibNIGMI for calculating radiation doses from an emergency low-altitude explosion of high power, supplementing them with archival materials from other departments.
The reason for this situation was not only the passivity of local leaders, but also the lack of a coordinating role for central departments, among which the leading role was to belong to the Russian Emergencies Ministry. In the early 1990s. in this department, there was a corresponding structure in the person of the territorial administration for rehabilitation, but it was soon liquidated. The atmosphere of special secrecy associated with the tests of nuclear weapons has led to the fact that even today many leaders on the ground do not know where and what information is available, how the rehabilitation problem should be solved, and whether there is such a problem at all.
There is even an opinion that Roshydromet is hiding this information. And the authors of the book “Ecocide in Russia” M. Feshbakh and A. Friendlin (M., 1992) accuse the Russian Hydrometeorological Service of deliberately “hiding and hiding from the population the true situation on Novaya Zemlya, the Semipalatinsk test site, etc. ". Let's try to figure it out: as for the first years of nuclear tests, this issue was decided by L.P. Beria, who was in charge of the entire nuclear program, and the answer to the current situation must be sought, obviously, in the comfort of those who conducted it in the early 1990s. political and economic transformations in the country. So, in the late 1980s. on the orders of Roshydromet in the field, all information about the past radiation situation was destroyed even before the secrecy label was removed from it. Now all of it is open, is in various central archives and has a commercial value: pay money and get what you need.
The concentration of radioactive fallout and the exposure dose rate, recorded by the Hydrometeorological Service since 1954, are important, but not the only types of information required for calculating radiation doses. Prompt receipt of information on radiation doses of the population is not included in the functional responsibilities of any of the state structures. Such information should be the result of special scientific research, which should be carried out in accordance with Government Decree No. 534 in the same way as it was done for the territory of the Altai Territory.
So, analyzing the radiation consequences of explosion No. 100 (September 17, 1961), we found that the next day in Novosibirsk a record density of radioactivity fallout from the atmosphere was recorded for the entire monitoring period. It exceeded similar indicators in Barnaul associated with the explosion on August 7, 1962, which was officially recognized as emergency. But it turned out that data on the power of this explosion and the amount of radionuclides that entered the atmosphere have not yet been published. Without this information, it is impossible to reliably estimate the exposure doses to the population. However, since 1996, the results of the preliminary assessment of doses and the conclusion that there was no radioactive contamination of the terrain in the Novosibirsk Region from this explosion has continued.
Obviously, being in such conditions of limited information, neither the Novosibirsk region, nor other regions will be able to obtain objective data on radioactive contamination and radiation doses. At the same time, back on January 24, 1997, by the decision of the Interdepartmental Commission for the Prevention and Elimination of Emergencies of the Ministry of Defense and the FSB of Russia, it was proposed to remove the secrecy label from the materials necessary for a reliable assessment of radiation doses. But the cart, as they say, is still there.
A critical mass of protests against the suppression of facts and subjective assessments of the past radiation situation in Siberia is growing, and this cannot continue to be ignored. For Russia, which has been under the conditions of a totalitarian regime, closed and isolated for many decades, informational openness, including environmental openness, is extremely important. The lack of such information deprives the management bodies and society of the ability to assess and monitor the state of affairs in defense and security, including environmental security.
What conclusions and proposals follow from the above?
1. The need for generalization and objective analysis of all accumulated materials on the radiation effects of nuclear tests on the territory and population remains unfulfilled. The government decision obliging to do this for the Novosibirsk region has not been fulfilled (Resolution No. 534, paragraph 19 of May 31, 1995). The funds required for this have not been allocated.
2. In solving this problem, there is no coordination of activities of the leading research institutions. The territorial administration for rehabilitation in the Ministry of Emergency Situations created for this in the 1990s. ceased its activities.
3. The existing estimates of the past radiation situation are based on incomplete information. They do not contain all data on extreme cases (emergency situations). In particular, the explosion on September 17, 1961 was not included in the "emergency statistics", as indicated by the materials of the ground monitoring of Roshydromet. The materials of the air have not been published or used anywhere.
radiation reconnaissance of Roshydromet, carried out in 1950-1960, information from the Sanitary and Epidemiological Supervision Service, geological survey data.
4. No assessment has been made and a map of the accumulated effective radiation doses of the population of Siberia, except for the territory of the Altai Territory, has not been created. The contribution to the total dose from local fallout from the Novaya Zemlya test site was not taken into account.
5. Instruction of the President of the Russian Federation V.V. Putin No. Pr-2085 dated October 24, 2000 (EMERCOM of Russia, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Health of Russia and other departments) regarding the establishment of the status of persons exposed to radiation as a result of nuclear tests can be fulfilled only after a complete analysis of all materials and the removal of the secrecy label from the information of the Ministry of Defense.
6. Radiation research data and their professional interpretation should be available for the entire region. It seems that this is the only way to overcome the fear of radiation and to objectively assess the situation.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
1. Semipalatinsk test site: ensuring general and radiation safety / Call. ed. under the arms. prof. V.A.Logacheva. Moscow: Izdat, 1997.319 p.
2. Barakhtin V. N., Dus V. I. Semipalatinsk polygon through the eyes of independent experts. St. Petersburg: Gidrometeoizdat, 2002.110 p.
3. Logachev VA, Mikhalihina LA, Filonov NP Influence of nuclear tests at the Semipalatinsk test site on the health status of the population of the Kemerovo and Novosibirsk regions // Bulletin of the Center of Societies. inf. on atomic energy. 1996. Special issue.
4. Bulatov VI 200 nuclear test sites of the USSR. Geography of radiation accidents and pollution. Novosibirsk: TSERIS, 1993.88 p.
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7. Bulatov V. I. Russia radioactive. Novosibirsk: TSERIS, 1996.272 p.
8. Apsalikhov KN, Gusev BI, Dus VI, Leonard RB Semipalatinsk atomic lake. Alma-Ata: Gylym, 1996.301 p.
9. Tleubergenov S. T. Polygons of Kazakhstan. Alma-Ata, 1997.746 p.
10. Selegey VV Radioactive contamination of Novosibirsk - the past and the present. Novosibirsk: Ecology, 1997.148 p.
11. Voronin GV Nuclear test site - a triumph and tragedy of the people. Novosibirsk, 1998.67 p.
12. Yakubovskaya E. L., Nagibin V. I., Suslin V. P. Semipalatinsk nuclear test site - 50 years. Novosibirsk, 1998.141 p.
13. Bulatov V. I. Russia: ecology and army. Geoecological problems of the military-industrial complex and military-defense activities. Novosibirsk: TSERIS, 1999.168 p.
14. Yakubovskaya E. L., Nagibin V. I., Suslin V. P. Semipalatinsk nuclear test site: yesterday, today, tomorrow. Novosibirsk, 2000.128 p.
15. Yakubovskaya EL, Nagibin VI, Suslin VP Semipalatinsk nuclear test site - an independent analysis of the problem. Novosibirsk, 2003.144 p.
Barakhtin Vianor Nikolaevich Senior Researcher of the Siberian Regional Research Hydrometeorological Institute of Roshydromet, Candidate of Geographical Sciences
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