Test sites for nuclear weapons in the USSR. Secrets of the Nuremberg Trials: what are hidden documents unpublished in Russia. Nuclear factories and research institutes
We did not dare to publish the full version of the materials of the trial of the main Nazi criminals.
The Minister of Culture of Russia proposed to mark the 75th anniversary of the Victory with the release of the film "Nuremberg". “The Nuremberg Trials is a topic that requires reliable coverage in Russian cinema,” said Vladimir Medinsky, speaking at a meeting of the Victory organizing committee. It is quite possible to agree with the head of the Ministry of Culture: the topic is really not fully disclosed in our country. It is unlikely, however, that the minister, known for his struggle against the overthrowers of "holy legends," will be delighted with the coverage of facts that remain in the shadows.
Defendants of the International Military Tribunal. Front row: Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel.
"This topic is now historically completely privatized by the United States," lamented Medinsky. "The Americans write about Nuremberg as their great victory, the role of the Soviet Union there is actually reduced to naught." According to the minister’s plan, world movie stars and historians from “all countries participating in the Nuremberg trials” will be involved in the work on the project aimed at restoring historical justice. Such a scale will, of course, require considerable expenses, so Medinsky asked the president to give the corresponding instructions to the Ministry of Finance. And he met the full understanding of the head of state: “I like it. Good project. " In general, apparently, "Nuremberg" - to be!
However, one cannot fail to notice that in our country the Nuremberg trials are commemorated today much more often than in the States. The topic literally does not leave TV screens, the lips of politicians and officials. Moreover, the historical educational program is not limited to the borders of the country. “We constantly remind our partners of the enduring significance of the decisions of the Nuremberg Tribunal, which clearly and unequivocally qualified those who in World War II were on the side of the forces of good and who were on the side of evil,” assures Deputy Foreign Minister Grigory Karasin. Those who continue to confuse the sides of the world and darkness will face severe punishment: five years ago, the Criminal Code was supplemented by Article 354.1. "Rehabilitation of Nazism": for "denying the facts established by the verdict of the International Military Tribunal" can get up to three years in prison.
Such an active and comprehensive concern for the legacy of Nuremberg makes us assume that somewhere, where, and in our country, the materials of the process have been studied, as they say, up and down. But here's the paradox: in no other country - the founder of the Tribunal, its results are presented so poorly as in our country. The first Soviet collection of materials of the Tribunal, published in 1952, consisted of only two volumes. The most complete edition in Russian available today is the eight-volume edition, published from 1987 to 1999. By comparison, the English, French and German versions of the court report are 42 volumes. Moreover, they were published almost immediately after the end of the process.
It is clear that such a selective approach is explained not only by concern about saving paper: not all documents of the Nuremberg Tribunal were equally useful for the Soviet government. And some continue, it seems, to remain toxic for the Russian authorities.
Exhumation of mass graves in the Katyn Forest, April 1943.
Tales of the Katyn Forest
Perhaps the most unpleasant page of the Nuremberg history for the USSR was an unsuccessful attempt to blame the Germans on the crime of the Stalinist regime - the destruction in April-May 1940 of almost 22 thousand Poles, mainly officers, as well as officials, policemen and other "incorrigible enemies of Soviet power" captured during the joint partition of Poland with the Third Reich. It is traditionally called the Katyn execution, although prisoners were shot in several places. Most of them, more than six thousand (in Katyn - 4.5 thousand), were executed and buried in the territory of the present Tver region, near the village of Mednoe. But the world learned about those mass graves only in 1991. The secret of the Katyn Forest was revealed half a century earlier - in the spring of 1943. And, as you know, not at all red trackers.
The Soviet authorities made colossal efforts to convince the world community that the German revelations were a shameless Goebbels lie. That the Nazis were the executioners, and that the Bolsheviks-humanists had nothing to do with it. The final stage of this special operation was the submission of the Katyn case to the “tribunal of peoples,” as the Nuremberg trial was then called. According to the indictment presented to the Tribunal on October 18, 1945, the defendants, among other things, were charged with the murder in September 1941 in the Katyn Forest near Smolensk, 11 thousand Polish officers.
The accusation was supported by the materials of the so-called Burdenko commission, which "with irrefutable clarity" established: "By shooting Polish prisoners of war in the Katyn forest, the German fascist invaders consistently carried out their policy of physical destruction of the Slavic peoples."
The conclusions of the Burdenko commission were announced by the Soviet prosecution at a meeting on February 13, 1946. Moscow's calculation was based on the fact that, in accordance with Article 21 of the Tribunal's Charter, it "will accept official government documents without evidence." However, the defender of Hermann Goering Otto Stamer (the Katyn execution was incriminated primarily to his client) asked the Tribunal to call witnesses - primarily the German servicemen mentioned in the materials of the Soviet commission. And quite unexpectedly for the Soviet prosecutors, despite their protests, the majority of the judges spoke in favor of granting the petitions.
Only the judge from the USSR, Iona Nikitchenko, was against it, who fiercely argued, referring to the charter, that the reports of government commissions could not be challenged, let alone refuted. "Article 21 only says how to present these documents, but does not say that you cannot refute them," objected the American judge Biddle. “The accusation might not have touched the question of the shooting in the Katyn Forest, his deputy Parker echoed Biddle. "If we forbid the defendants to resort to the help of witnesses, then we will not give them the right to defense."
The Tribunal decided to hear three defense and prosecution witnesses. The Soviet leadership was, of course, very uneasy. The government commission for the preparation and conduct of the Nuremberg trial, headed by the notorious Andrei Vyshinsky, decided to "prepare witnesses" and "authentic documents found with the corpses."
"Authentic documents", that is, forgeries concocted by the Soviet special services, were supposed to prove that the executions were carried out not in the spring of 1940, but much later. It is noteworthy that the Minister of State Security of the USSR - and also a member of the "Nuremberg" Commission - Vsevolod Merkulov was named the key executor of measures to expose the "German provocation". It was hard to find a better expert on this topic. Merkulov, who in 1940 held the post of first deputy head of the NKVD, was one of the leaders of the operation to eliminate Polish prisoners of war.
The list of witnesses presented by the prosecution included Boris Bazilevsky, who was under the Germans as deputy burgomaster of Smolensk, medical expert Prozorovsky and professor of forensic medicine at Sofia University Markov, a member of an international commission organized by the Germans. How exactly the MGB officers "prepared" them for the trial, history is silent, but something suggests that they did not torture the witnesses with appeals to "tell the truth and nothing but the truth." They tortured me with something else. Three Wehrmacht officers testified in favor of the defense, including Colonel Arens, the commander of the 537th communications regiment, a unit that, according to the Soviet prosecution, shot the Poles.
Polish soldiers taken prisoner by the Red Army, autumn 1939.
Cross-examination of witnesses took place on July 1–3, 1946 and, despite Merkulov's "preparation", did not end well for our prosecutors. The defense "proved the inconsistency of the Soviet version, although it did not attribute the blame to the Soviet authorities," testifies in her memoirs Tatyana Stupnikova, who worked as a simultaneous translator from German during the trial. “However, a terrible conclusion suggested itself and was indirectly confirmed by the court's decision:“ For lack of evidence, do not include the case of the Katyn shootings in the verdict of the International Military Tribunal. ” The task of the Tribunal was not to search for other perpetrators, even if in the most serious crimes against humanity. "
According to Stupnikova, the Soviet citizens who were present at the trial, "without saying a word," called July 1, 1946, "the black day of the Nuremberg trials." “It was a really rainy day for me,” Stupnikova continues. “It was incredibly difficult for me to listen to and translate the testimony of witnesses, and not because of the difficulty of translation, but this time because of an overwhelming sense of shame for my only long-suffering Fatherland, which, not without reason, could have been suspected of committing a grave crime.”
Moreover, from the testimony of witnesses clearly emerged signs of yet another, much larger-scale crime of the Stalinist regime - already committed against its own citizens. “Decades later, we will learn about the huge mass graves on the territory of the USSR, but that will be later,” Stupnikova writes. - In the meantime, in Nuremberg, witness Arens, in his testimony to the court, only mentioned the nameless shallow graves in the Katyn forest, where the decomposed corpses and scattered skeletons lay. Judging by the state of the remains, these were our compatriots, who were shot long before the war. " As is now known, since the late 1920s, the Katyn Forest was chosen by the "competent" authorities as a place of execution and burial of "enemies of the people."
In a word, it turned out, to put it mildly, ugly. But in the USSR itself, few people found out about the embarrassment: the materials of the court, refuting the canonical Soviet version of the Katyn massacre, were not published, of course. Moreover, defeat was passed off as victory. "The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg found Goering and other main war criminals guilty of pursuing a policy of extermination of the Polish people and, in particular, of the execution of Polish prisoners of war in the Katyn Forest," the Great Soviet Encyclopedia stated in the article "The Katyn Shooting." The Soviet government adhered to this version almost to the very end.
True, in some publications, there were still notes of dissatisfaction with the allies, giving out that not everything went according to plan. “There have been cases when the Tribunal made decisions (by a majority vote of Western judges) in deviation from the provisions of the Charter,” lamented Mark Raginsky, an assistant to the chief Soviet prosecutor. "Contrary to the Statute, the Tribunal ... summoned, at the request of lawyers, as witnesses to war criminals, whose testimony allegedly could refute the act of investigation by the Extraordinary State Commission on the atrocities of the Nazis in Katyn."
But today it is clear that it was the "Western judges", their meticulousness and caution that saved the tribunal from a mine of enormous destructive force, which the presumptuous leaders of the USSR almost planted under it. Agree that today's Russian officials would find it much more difficult, if not impossible, to talk about the "enduring significance" of Nuremberg if the Katyn episode were included in the verdict, as the Soviet prosecutors demanded. In this case, under article 354.1. The Criminal Code of the Russian Federation "Denial of the facts established by the verdict of the International Military Tribunal" would fall under a good half of humanity. Including, by the way, the current leadership of Russia.
Protocol part
The circumstances of the appearance of the captured Poles in the Soviet Union were not discussed at the trial, although even by the standards of that difficult time, the situation looked, to put it mildly, strange. It did not fit into ideological clichés. Indeed, the neighboring country is undergoing fascist aggression - and what is the Soviet Union doing, the bulwark of peace, progress and anti-fascism? No, he does not come to the aid of the bleeding Polish army. He attacks her and takes her soldiers and officers prisoner. Then he concludes a treaty "on friendship and borders" with the aggressor, annexing half of the territory of "former Poland". But the winners, as you know, are not judged. Even before the start of the process, the allies agreed not to allow political attacks on themselves from the side of the defense and not to raise topics that are painful to each other.
It was decided that each country would draw up its own list of non-negotiable issues. Skeletons in the closet were not only in the USSR. Great Britain, for example, really did not want to hear the theme of "Great Britain's behavior during the war with the Boers." But the list of taboos presented to the Tribunal by the chief Soviet prosecutor was perhaps the most impressive. Here it is: “1. Questions related to the socio-political system of the USSR. 2. Foreign policy of the Soviet Union: a) the Soviet-German non-aggression pact of 1939 and issues related to it (trade agreement, border-setting, negotiations, etc.); b) Ribbentrop's visit to Moscow and negotiations in November 1940 in Berlin; c) the Balkan question; d) Soviet-Polish relations. 3. Soviet Baltic republics ”.
Nevertheless, it was not possible to completely avoid discussing issues that were unpleasant for the USSR. It was at the Nuremberg trials that the world first learned that a small visible part of the Soviet-German non-aggression pact concluded on the eve of World War II was supplemented by a much more extensive "underwater" - a secret protocol that determined the "boundaries of the spheres of interests" of the parties "in the case of a territorial-political reorganization of the regions that are part of the Baltic states ... and the Polish state. "
For the first time sensational information sounded on March 25, 1946. “On August 23 in Moscow, a non-aggression pact was signed between Germany and the Soviet Union,” said Alfred Seidl, a defender of Rudolf Hess in his speech. - On the same day ... the two states also entered into a secret agreement. In this secret treaty, it was mainly about the delimitation of the spheres of mutual interests in the region of Europe located between them ”. Seidl said that he had at his disposal an affidavit, written testimony, Friedrich Gaus - the former head of the right department of the German Foreign Ministry, who accompanied his boss, von Ribbentrop, on his trip to Moscow in August 1939 and took an active part in the preparation of the documents signed there.
Excerpts from Gaus' affidavit detailing the talks in Moscow and the contents of the secret protocol were read by Seidl during Ribbentrop's interrogation conducted by the defense on March 28 - April 2, 1946. The Foreign Minister of the Third Reich fully confirmed the testimony of his former subordinate, adding many new interesting details: “The reception given to me by Stalin and Molotov was very friendly ... We discussed what should be done by the Germans and by the Russians in the event of an armed conflict ( with Poland. - "MK") ... Stalin never accused Germany of aggression against Poland. If they talk about it here as an aggression, then the blame should be on both sides. "
Running a little ahead, I will note that Ribbentrop stood on the same in his last word, uttered on August 31, 1946: “When I arrived in Moscow to see Marshal Stalin in 1939, he discussed with me the impossibility of a peaceful settlement of the German-Polish conflict ... He made it clear that if, apart from half of Poland and the Baltic countries, he does not receive Lithuania and the port of Libava, I can immediately fly back. In 1939, waging war there was obviously not yet considered an international crime against peace, otherwise how can Stalin's telegram sent after the end of the Polish campaign be explained? It reads, and I quote: "The friendship between Germany and the Soviet Union, sealed together by shed blood, has every chance of becoming long-lasting and lasting."
No less exciting was Ribbentrop's story about the Soviet-German summit held in Berlin on November 12-14, 1940. Vyacheslav Molotov, the head of the government of the USSR and at the same time the people's commissar for foreign affairs, came to visit Hitler. According to Ribbentrop, during these negotiations, the Third Reich offered the USSR to join the Triple Pact - the military-political alliance of Germany, Italy and Japan. And the Moscow guest took this idea with great interest. According to Ribbentrop, the deal fell through only because of the excessive appetites of the Soviet leadership. Moscow insisted, in particular, on including in its "sphere of interests" all of Finland, Bulgaria, as well as the zones of the straits connecting the Baltic and the North (Skagerrak and Kattegat) and the Black and Mediterranean Seas. On the shores of the Dardanelles, that is, on the territory of Turkey, the Soviet Union hoped to acquire its own naval base.
Ribbentrop did not lie: later studies confirmed his testimony. But to say that his statements had the effect of a detonating bomb would be a great exaggeration. For obvious reasons, it was not customary to treat the words of the defendants in this trial with great respect and trust. Dogs, they say, bark, the wind carries. Moscow was much more troubled by Dr. Seidl, who did not abandon his attempts to prove that the USSR acted in concert with Germany in the Polish question.
In the end, he got his hands on a photocopy of the secret protocol to the Soviet-German non-aggression pact, which he was quick to present to the Tribunal. But Seidl “refused to say who he got it from,” notes historian Natalya Lebedeva, one of the most authoritative experts on the topic. “As a result, the Tribunal prohibited the publication of the text of this document and consistently adhered to this position.” In essence, the court upheld the main Soviet prosecutor, Roman Rudenko, who called the photocopy "a fake with no evidentiary value."
However, the scandal nevertheless erupted: on May 22, 1946, the text of the secret protocol was published by the American newspaper St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Which, incidentally, confirms Seidl's version of the origin of the document. According to the transcript of the trial, answering the relevant question from the judges, the lawyer replied that he had received a photocopy from "a seemingly reliable person from one of the Allied powers." Seidl himself, as it is clear from his memoirs published many years later, was inclined to believe that "he was played along by the American side, namely by the prosecution of the United States or the American secret service."
And the next morning, May 23, in Nuremberg, under extremely strange circumstances, Rudenko's assistant Nikolai Zorya, who was responsible for presenting evidence of the German attack on the Soviet Union, dies. According to the official version, due to careless handling of weapons, while cleaning a personal pistol. “Of course, no one could believe this version,” Tatyana Stupnikova recalled. "Who would think of cleaning a weapon before leaving for work? .. As for me, I am sure from the very beginning to this day that this is, if not a murder, then at best a forced departure from life."
The motive, according to the witness of the events, was the same story with the secret protocol, which exposed the "peace-loving Soviet foreign policy" in an extremely unattractive light. Moscow began searching for those responsible for the failure, which did not last long. “It was possible,” wrote Stupnikova, “only one answer: the accusers are to blame. They could not shut their mouths to the defenders, witnesses and the defendant Ribbentrop ... It was urgently necessary to find one person to blame for everything and remove him carefully, without noise, without attracting the attention of the world community, without interrupting the sessions of the Tribunal, but clearly hinting to our lawyers that such business is not supposed to stumble. It is obvious that Beria's henchmen in Nuremberg have successfully coped with this important task. "
The historian Lebedeva adheres to the same point of view. True, she still excludes murder. According to Lebedeva, after the topic of secret protocols thundered at the trial and beyond, Zorya was summoned to Moscow. Moreover, he was very scared by this challenge. Apparently, the general decided not to wait for charges of sabotage and treason. And he himself sentenced himself to death.
However, all this did not affect the course of the process. At the beginning of June, the Tribunal rejected Seidl's request to have a photocopy of the secret protocol attached to the case and thus finally closed the matter. It was difficult to expect otherwise. “We are considering here the case of German war criminals, and not the foreign policy of other states,” Roman Rudenko said during the debate. And he was absolutely right.
The chief prosecutor from the USSR at the Nuremberg trials Roman Rudenko during his speech.
What is bad
Today in Russia they prefer not to recall these episodes of the trial. But very often they talk about what was not. "Bandera and Shukhevych were Hitler's accomplices and were, like others like them, convicted by the Nuremberg Tribunal," - the refrain sounds in the speeches of Russian officials and unofficial persons. By the way, the above quote is taken from a relatively recent - November 2018 - speech by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov.
But the minister is mistaken: neither Bandera, nor Shukhevych, nor the organizations they headed, appear in the verdict of the International Military Tribunal. And, therefore, they could not be condemned by him. The subject of this trial, we repeat the words of Roman Rudenko, was the "case of German war criminals", and criminals of the highest rank. The smaller game was of interest to the Nuremberg prosecutors, defenders and judges only insofar as it confirmed - or denied - the acts of the big beast.
In this sense, a certain interest in Bandera and Bandera's supporters was indeed shown during the trial. However, to assert that in the materials of the Tribunal they appear to be Hitler's "certified" accomplices is a great sin against the truth. Information on this score, as they say in such cases, is ambiguous.
The version of complicity is supported by the written testimony of Colonel Stolze, one of the leaders of the German military intelligence and counterintelligence (Abwehr), presented by the Soviet prosecution. Talking about the course of Germany's preparations for a war against the USSR, Stolze, in particular, showed: “I personally gave instructions to the leaders of Ukrainian nationalists, German agents Melnik (nickname Consul-1) and Bandera to organize provocative actions in Ukraine immediately after Germany's attack on the Soviet Union with the aim of undermining the nearest rear of the Soviet troops ... "
However, the document with the code 014-USSR, that is, also submitted by the Soviet side, gives a completely different picture of relations between German Nazis and Ukrainian nationalists. The operational order of the Imperial Security Directorate (SD), dated October 29, 1941, read: “It has been reliably established that on the territory of the Reichskommissariat Bandera's movement is preparing a rebellion with the ultimate goal of creating an independent Ukraine. All members of the Bandera movement should be immediately detained and, after detailed interrogation under the guise of looters, eliminated without the slightest publicity. " And this is far from the only "Nuremberg" document certifying Ukrainian nationalists as enemies of the Reich.
Moreover, it cannot be said that the words of the Nazis were so much at odds with their deeds. One can, of course, argue about the scale of German repressions against Ukrainian nationalists, but it is impossible to completely deny them. There were arrests and executions. All this, of course, does not allow us to consider the Banderaites as innocent lambs, sinless victims of Nazism. They, to put it mildly, also have something to blame, Nuremberg does not rehabilitate them at all. But to claim that the International Military Tribunal has condemned Bandera is as much a historical falsity as the denial of the crimes of Ukrainian nationalists. You cannot fight the falsification of history with falsifications.
Will the film "Nuremberg" say a new word in understanding these historical events? Theoretically, there is a chance, but it would be better, really, to cover the topic by finally publishing the full version of the trial materials in Russian. Easier, cheaper and, most importantly, much more productive in terms of knowing the truth. And from the point of view of the image too. Calls not to forget about the Nuremberg Tribunal from a country that itself is very afraid to remember "unnecessary" about it look rather strange.
However, there are reasons to believe that the goal of the project produced by the Minister of Culture is not at all the search for historical truth, but the renovation of “holy legends” - a revised and enlarged edition of the Soviet canonical version of history under a new bright dust jacket. Not just Nuremberg, but Nuremberg! While he is not "ours" at all. And not "them". The main and truly enduring outcome of the Nuremberg Tribunal is a clear border that separated what is permissible in international and simply human relations from the dark, infernal, forbidden zone.
The Nazi regime was entirely located on the other side of this demarcation line, so the qualification of the actions of its pillars and henchmen did not cause any difficulties either then or later. Ordinary fascism. It is much more difficult with the judges themselves. If we proceed from the strict criteria set by the Tribunal, the forces that established it cannot be considered 100% bright either. Everyone has something to repent of. If we assume that Auschwitz and Babi Yar are infinite evil, hell created by nonhumans, and Katyn, Butovo training ground, British concentration camps in South Africa, Hiroshima and Songmi are "who does not happen", then Nuremberg is really nothing he didn't teach us.
The Institute of Radiation Safety and Ecology of Kazakhstan, which is based in Kurchatov (East Kazakhstan region, the former center of the closed Semipalatinsk nuclear test site), said that Kazakh scientists were not aware of the accidents at facilities with nuclear infrastructure that allegedly occurred in Kazakhstan at the end of September.
“We have two reactors: one in Alma-Ata, two in Kurchatov. ...
On the evening of November 9, the French Institute for Nuclear and Radiation Safety (IRSN) announced that it also recorded a radioactive cloud over Europe. Institute experts said this could indicate an accident with a radiation leak at a nuclear facility in Russia or Kazakhstan at the end of September. Formerly a radioactive cloud over Europe. They also pointed to the south of the Urals as the likely source of the leak, where the radioactive substance ruthenium-106 was released.
Asan Aidarkhanov, deputy director of the branch of the Institute of Radiation Safety and Ecology of Kazakhstan, believes that the leak did not occur on the territory of his country.
“We do not have such a facility, as a result of an accident in which ruthenium would be in the air. Yes, we have research reactors, but if it were an accident at some nuclear fuel cycle facility, then [in the atmosphere] Not only ruthenium. Most likely, this indicates that there was an accident at an enterprise that produces precisely radioisotopes for medical and research purposes. In Kazakhstan, it is the Institute of Nuclear Physics in Alma-Ata, they produce radiopharmaceuticals. But there were no accidents , I have not heard about the accident, "said Asan Aidarkhanov.
Ergazy Kenzhin, director of the Alma-Ata-based Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Kazakh Energy Ministry, said the institute has a facility in western Kazakhstan near the town of Aksai in the West Kazakhstan region.
“This is an underground test site, there are adits at a depth of one and a half kilometers and a kilometer. These are the former test sites of the USSR, where there were underground nuclear explosions in the 1980s. for decades. And there is absolutely no release of radioactivity there, "Yergazy Kenzhin said.
"This [emission] does not relate to Kazakhstan one hundred percent," he said.
IRSN scientists talk about a leak of ruthenium-106, which is mainly used in medicine. Experts of the French institute rule out an accident at a nuclear reactor.
The Russian authorities previously stated that there were no accidents at Russian nuclear power plants in September. The state corporation "Rosatom", citing data from "Roshydromet", reported in October that ruthenium-106 was "not found" on the territory of Russia, including the South Urals.
However, Kommersant, with reference to the Vice-Governor of the Chelyabinsk Region, Oleg Klimov, reported that the isotope of ruthenium was nevertheless found in the air in this region in the fall, and the Vice-Governor was going to hold a meeting on this topic with the participation of specialists from the State Atomic Energy Corporation. " Rosatom "and the production association" Mayak ". There is no information on the results of this meeting in open sources.
On July 29, 1985, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee 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 became 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, a 400 kiloton RDS-6s thermonuclear charge was tested at the test site. The charge was placed on a tower 30 m above the ground. As a result of this test, 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, the RDS-37 thermonuclear bomb was tested over the test site. 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 Kuz'kina 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 exercise on September 14, 1954, a Tu-4 bomber dropped an RDS-2 nuclear bomb with a capacity of 38 kilotons of TNT from an altitude of 8 km. 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, an anti-aircraft guided missile of type 215 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.
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Nuclear test sites
A separate, strictly guarded territory, designed to perform a set of works on the preparation and testing of nuclear charges, incl. and for military purposes (see Nuclear Munitions). As a rule, at the proving grounds of nuclear powers, there are enterprises for carrying out mining operations, driving adits and wells, they undergo underground tests, as well as research and development departments that prepare tests, perform measurements and observations, and monitor the state of nuclear charges. and driving complexes. The landfills have powerful energy facilities and complex management systems. Military units are also located on the territory of the test sites, which are responsible for the protection of facilities and take part in tests.
Five nuclear powers - the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France and China - from 1945 to 1996 mainly tested nuclear charges at five test sites in the world: Nevada (USA and Great Britain, using the American test site under contract), Novaya Zemlya and Semipalatinsk (USSR), test site Pacific Experimental Center on Coral Atolls in Polynesia (France) and Lobnor (PRC). However, the nuclear powers carried out submarine, surface, underground, ground, and atmospheric tests of nuclear charges in more than 20 regions of the globe outside Japan.
Only after the conclusion of the Moscow Treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in three environments (in space, under water and in the atmosphere) in 1963, nuclear explosions were localized at the five above-mentioned test sites (excluding one underground explosion that India conducted on May 17, 1974 on its territory) (See also: International treaties on the limitation and prohibition of nuclear tests).
Nevada Proving Ground (USA), located in the state of Nevada, 100 km north of Las Vegas. The first test took place here on January 27, 1951.
Most of the tests aimed at studying the combat properties of nuclear charges were carried out in vertical shafts with a depth of 180 - 1500 m and a diameter of 1 - 3.6 m. After the detonation of a nuclear device, giant craters-craters formed on the surface. According to published data, in the test sites of the Nevada test site, there are several hundred such craters, the diameter of which is 60 - 600 m, the depth is up to 60 m.
Tests related to the study of weapon effects, as a rule, were carried out in horizontal adits. The total number of US nuclear tests, including 24 US-British explosions, was 1,054 (according to foreign data), and most of them were carried out at this test site. Military exercises with the use of nuclear weapons were also held here. As a result of atmospheric explosions carried out before 1963, the territories of neighboring states (especially the state of Utah, located on the leeward side) were subjected to significant radioactive contamination.
Polygon on Novaya Zemlya (USSR, RF), created on July 31, 1955 by a decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the Novaya Zemlya archipelago. By the decree of the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Council of Ministers of the USSR of March 5, 1956, the status of the State Central Range No. 6 of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR was assigned to the training ground. On July 2, 1974, by the decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, he was awarded the Order of Lenin as the State Central Research Range of the USSR Ministry of Defense.
The landfill covers an area of 90.2 thousand square kilometers, of which 55 thousand square kilometers are on land. At the same time, the indigenous population of the archipelago was resettled to the continent. Since 1955, atmospheric, ground, underwater and underground tests have been carried out here. A total of 132 (87 atmospheric, 3 underwater, 42 underground) tests were carried out. According to experts, the total energy release of tests on Novaya Zemlya was 94 percent of the power of all nuclear explosions carried out in our country. A thermonuclear weapon, a hydrogen bomb, was tested here, and almost all tests of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere were carried out.
The last nuclear test at the Novaya Zemlya test site was carried out on October 24, 1990. In accordance with the Presidential Decree of February 27, 1992, the State Central Test Site of the USSR Ministry of Defense was renamed the Central Test Site of the Russian Federation.
Currently, within the framework of activities not prohibited by the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, non-nuclear explosive experiments are being carried out at the test site in order to maintain the reliability and safety of the nuclear arsenal.
Heads of the landfill: Colonel E.N.Barkovsky (08/09/1954 - 11/21/1954), Hero of the Soviet Union captain 1st rank V.G. Starikov (11/21/1954 - 09/01/1955), captain 1st rank Osovsky N.A. (09/01/1955 - 02/09/1956), rear admirals Lutsky N.L. (09.03.1956 - 07.07.1958), I.I. (07.07.1958 - 16.05.1959), Major General Kudryavtsev G.G. (05/16/1959 - 06/01/1963), Vice-Admiral Zbritsky E.P. (06/01/1963 - 03/13/1969), Rear Admiral Steshenko V.K. (03/13/1969 - 09/01/1970), Minenko N.G. (09/01/1970 - 12/25/1974), vice-admirals S.P. Kostritsky (12/25/1974 - 03/02/1982), Chirov V.K. (03/02/1982 - 10/19/1985), Rear Admiral E.P. Gorozhin (10/19/1985 - 12/06/1989), vice-admirals V.A.Gorev (06.12.1989 - 10.12.1993), Yarygin V.S. (10.12.1993 - 16.01.1997), Rear Admiral Shevchenko V.V. (01.16.1997 - 06.16.1999), major generals Astapov S.D. (06.16.1999 - 02.14.2002) and Sokolov Yu.I. (from 04.04.2002).
Semipalatinsk test site (USSR, now the Republic of Kazakhstan). It was formed on the territory of the Semipalatinsk, Karaganda and Pavlodar regions of the USSR by the resolution of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on November 14, 1946. Construction of the Semipalatinsk Ya.p. began in August 1947. On May 12, 1970 it was named the 2nd State Central Research Testing Ground of the USSR Ministry of Defense. On July 2, 1974, training ground No. 2 was awarded the Order of Lenin. On March 28, 1990, it was renamed the 2nd State Central Proving Grounds.
At the Semipalatinsk test site, the following were tested for the first time: a plutonium bomb in August 1949, a uranium bomb in October 1951, the first hydrogen warhead in August 1953, and the first thermonuclear bomb with a capacity of about 1.5 Mt of trinitrotoluene in October 1955.
Apart from peaceful explosions, the USSR produced here almost 90 percent of its underground explosions for military purposes. At the test site, the first samples of atomic and hydrogen weapons were tested, the world's first ballistic missile with a nuclear charge was launched, samples of rocket technology and silo launchers were tested here for strength to the impact of the damaging factors of a nuclear explosion. From 1961 to 1989 alone, 348 nuclear explosions were carried out at the Semipalatinsk test site, 5 of which were under the program of testing the use of nuclear explosive technologies for industrial purposes. The last test at the site was carried out on October 19, 1989. The Semipalatinsk test site was closed by the decree of the President of Kazakhstan N.А. Nazarbayev dated August 29, 1991. In 1993-1995. a joint Kazakh-American project was developed to destroy the landfill infrastructure, which ended on July 29, 2000. Over the years, 181 adits were closed and 13 wells were liquidated.
The chiefs of the range: Lieutenant General P.M. Rozhanovich (09/04/1947 - 08/31/1948), major generals Kolesnikov S.G. (09/12/1948 - 11/14/1950), A.V. Enko (11/14/1950 - 02/11/1957), Gureev I.N. (02/11/1957 - 02/28/1965), lieutenant generals Vinogradov N.N. (02/28/1965 - 10/13/1970), Smirnov A.I. (10/13/1970 - 03/18/1976), major generals Kantiev M.K. (03/18/1976 - 01/06/1978), Sgupin (03/07/1978 - 07/01/1981), Lieutenant General Ilyenko A.D. (01.07.1981 - 05.11.1991), Major General Konovalenko Yu.V. (05.11.1991 - 03.04.1994).
The Pacific Experimental Center of France in Polynesia is the main Ya.p. for France after the cessation of nuclear weapons tests in the Algerian Sahara. This test site includes two main atolls - Mururoa and Fangataufa, as well as the coral island of Hao, which has been converted into a base for 2,000 mining workers and technicians who assemble nuclear explosive devices before detonating. In record time, barracks, warehouses and workshops were built there next to the airfield with a runway of 3.5 thousand meters.
The first nuclear test at the test site took place on July 2, 1966. Until 1991, 175 explosions were made here, which gradually turned the islands with the richest flora and fauna into radioactively hazardous ones, so that even fish and seafood began to be brought here from Japan and other Pacific countries. In 1966-1974. 41 explosions were carried out in the atmosphere, and in 1975-1995. - 140 underground explosions; which, together with 17 explosions in the Algerian Sahara, brought France to third place (after the USA and the USSR) in terms of the number of tests.
The Lop Nor landfill (PRC), also called the Xinjiang landfill, is located in the province of the same name in the north of the PRC near Lake Lop Nor. This test site is located at a distance of about 1,000 km from the borders of the PRC with Russia, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.
The first ground explosion with a capacity of 20-50 kt of TNT was carried out on October 16, 1964. Ground, atmospheric and high-altitude nuclear tests (1-3 per year) continued until 1980. A total of 23 explosions were made: 6 ground and 17 atmospheric with a total energy release of 22 Mt of TNT ... According to the observations of the radiometric network of the USSR, a series of atmospheric explosions at the Lop Nor test site in 1967, 1968, 1973 and 1976. with a capacity of 2-3 Mt and explosions up to 1 Mt in 1970 and 1974 led to serious pollution of the natural environment on the territory of the Soviet Union. The reason for this was the ingress of radioactive products of explosions into the troposphere and the surface layer of the air, followed by the fallout of radioactive fallout over the territory of the USSR. This was facilitated by the location of the test site: it is located at an altitude of about 800 m above sea level between the Tien Shan mountain range (the height of the peaks is 1.5-2.8 km) and the Altyntag mountain range (the height of the peaks is 4-7 km), and in both In some cases, the ridges have a latitudinal orientation. The Altintag ridge plays the role of a reflective wall, forming the direction of air mass transfer in this area.
After 1980, 20 underground explosions were carried out at the Lop Nor test site. The last of them was carried out in August 1995, despite the official participation of the PRC delegation in the Geneva talks on the complete cessation of nuclear tests.
Radioactive fission products generated in the boundary layer of the atmosphere at the Lop Nor test site can be retained over the territory of the PRC for a long time. However, it should be borne in mind that during underground explosions, the probability of radioactive inert gases and tritium entering the Russian Far East is high. Modeling data show that in 90% of cases, air masses are carried to this region.
Summary data on the number of nuclear explosions carried out by nuclear powers.
Note: The US fired 1,056 nuclear explosions, including 24 joint tests with the UK and the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
According to the Ministry of Atomic Energy of the Russian Federation, the average energy release of all 715 explosions of the USSR (including for peaceful purposes) is 261.965 Mt TNT, and of all US explosions - 218.86 Mt TNT. The power of atmospheric nuclear explosions carried out by all nuclear powers, according to experts, amounted to 438 Mt of TNT, including 141 (USA), 257 (USSR), 8 (Great Britain), 10 (France), 22 (PRC) Mt of TNT.
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 the active activity of the public 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, 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-lethal 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, melted with the rock. And this was dangerous, since the "forces of international evil" could well get this material to make a "dirty bomb".
Russia has 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 people and livestock from accessing them.
But by now, the "metalworkers" have dug up all the abandoned sites and communication lines and energy supply the polygons left by Russia. The results of these "investigations" I happened on Emba and Sary-Shagan.
And starting from 2017, Kazakhstan will start earning 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 a test camp and test sites would be much more expensive.
In Regan in 1960–61, 4 very dirty aboveground explosions were carried out. 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, all the personnel of the landfill had to be urgently evacuated. 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 Murorua attols (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) ...
In about the same way she 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
The USA 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 handed over 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 blow up 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 landfill 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 mobile phones and binoculars with you. It is also prohibited to remove stones and soil from the landfill. It is quite understandable that the Americans have retained all the facilities and equipment necessary for nuclear tests.
Soviet nuclear scientists needed to test a much more powerful weapon that could turn 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, logistic 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 environment, 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 that 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 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 traces 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.
At the same time, 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 conservation area, it is closed for visits, military and scientists work there, 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 *
