Atomic projects of the USSR: how and why nuclear weapons were created

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Legendary writer and journalist Vladimir Gubarev, a witness and participant in the events associated with the creation of the atomic bomb in the USSR, spoke in an interview with RT about the main stages of the development of the atomic project.

Back in Soviet times, he collaborated with physicists who stood at the origins of the national nuclear program: Igor Kurchatov, Yakov Zeldovich, Yuli Khariton. In an interview with RT, he described what emotions he experienced when he himself witnessed nuclear tests. Gubarev noted the role of Soviet intelligence officers, as well as Soviet and German scientists in the development of nuclear weapons. In addition, the writer named the main difference between the domestic creators of the nuclear bomb and the American ones.

Igor Kurchatov (right) with a group of employees of the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology / RIA Novosti

Vladimir Stepanovich, you attended nuclear weapons tests. How it was?

-There are some very scary things in this world when a person has a feeling of physiological fear. For example, when you first attend a rocket launch. But it is even more frightening to watch a nuclear test. You are standing far from the explosion site. And suddenly the earth rises in front of you! Stands up as a wall! Then dots appear in it, which become brighter and brighter. Then a flame bursts out of them! This wall breaks off the surface and goes up - everything happens in seconds!

What year was that?

- In 1965. It was an underground explosion in Kazakhstan. At one time, the head of the atomic project, Igor Kurchatov, insisted that every great scientist share his impressions of the nuclear test. On the one hand, they were shocked by the monstrous destructive power of the new weapon. On the other hand, they admitted that it was an amazing sight.

RDS-1 ground explosion mushroom mushroom on August 29, 1949 © RFNC-VNNIEF Museum of Nuclear Weapons / Wikipedia.

How did the work on the creation of the atomic bomb go?

- Work on the atomic project was carried out in three directions. Kurchatov dealt with plutonium, Isaac Kikoin - isotope separation, Lev Artsimovich - with electromagnetic methods of uranium separation. Each of these three areas could lead to the creation of a nuclear bomb. All scientists were on an equal footing. It was the "Russian atomic troika", which rushed forward to discoveries.

Nobody knew which option would work?

- Not. But our intelligence data obtained in the West indicated that everything could work out with plutonium. It was Kurchatov who was allowed to access those secret intelligence materials that came to Lavrenty Beria.

Igor Kurchatov in the laboratory of the Leningrad Institute of Physics and Technology of the USSR Academy of Sciences, 1929 RIA Novosti

From USA?

- First from England, and then from America. Largely thanks to these materials, Kurchatov very quickly advanced in his work. He unmistakably determined in which direction to go and in which not to, since it is a dead end. This was his great merit. Especially important was the data from the United States on the Manhattan Project, which was transmitted by intelligence officer Klaus Fuchs. These documents were a huge help in the work - more than 10 thousand pages with a detailed description of the reactors and the design of the bomb. However, it was necessary first of all to make sure that all this was true. In addition, no one knew how correct the path was set out in Western works, so the matter had to be approached very creatively.

Vladimir Gubarev, editor of the science department of the newspaper "Pravda" RIA Novosti © Boris Prikhodko

In your book you published a report-report dated June 18, 1945 that 39 German scientists and engineers went to the USSR. How decisive was their role in the Soviet atomic project?

- There are several German scientists who played a significant role in this work, for example Nikolaus Riehl. In fact, he created plant number 12 in Elektrostal, where the first metallic uranium for an atomic bomb was obtained. Riehl led the uranium production for five years. He, the only German in history, was awarded the highest Soviet title - Hero of Socialist Labor - after testing an atomic bomb. German scientists brought with them all the equipment related to physical processes. The work of these specialists was also of great importance for the reason that after the war in the USSR there were very few specialists in nuclear physics.

Killed …

- Yes. At the same time, these included those who taught at school, that is, did not study science. In my opinion, those groups of scientists who came to the USSR from Germany played a big role.

Riehl wrote in his book “Ten Years in a Golden Cage”: “In the field of nuclear power, the Soviets themselves would have achieved their goal, without the Germans. One year, or at most two years later. " Do you agree with this?

- Absolutely! Only I believe that it is impossible to determine exactly how long it would take Soviet scientists to create nuclear weapons.

- I will quote a letter from the legendary physicist Pyotr Kapitsa to Joseph Stalin: “Comrades Lavrenty Beria, Georgy Malenkov and Nikolai Voznesensky behave like superhumans in their work on the atomic project. Especially Comrade Beria. He has a "conductor's baton" in his hands, he supervises our work. It's not bad. Comrade Beria's main weakness is that the conductor must not only wave his wand, but also understand the score. " When Beria demanded a warrant for the arrest of Kapitsa, Stalin said: "I will fire him, but you do not touch him."

- Yes, that's how it was.

Pyotr Kapitsa / RIA Novosti

I was shocked that Kapitsa could openly oppose Beria

- The fact is that Stalin himself asked Kapitsa to give him his assessment of the progress of work and the problems of the atomic project.

In your book, you quote Ril's statement that he worked under a contract in the USSR

- We must take into account what happened in post-war Germany. There was not only poverty - complete devastation! Work in the Soviet project saved German scientists, so they signed contracts. Naturally, their freedom was limited. Some specialists worked on the islands, far from civilization, while others could not leave the boundaries of this or that territory. As for Riel, he worked under total control. At the same time, German scientists received salaries ten times more than Soviet specialists, and returned from the USSR as rich people.

Did Stalin carefully study the reports of the physicists of the atomic project?

- He knew everything on this issue and stood above everything.

Only Beria and Stalin knew about the real state of affairs in the atomic project. Malenkov and Nikita Khrushchev, who then came to power, had no idea what an atomic project was, so they did a lot of stupid things.

One of the biggest was the creation of the thermonuclear aviation Tsar Bomb.

August 2, 1945. Nikita Khrushchev, Joseph Stalin, Georgy Malenkov, Lavrenty Beria, Vyacheslav Molotov / RIA Novosti

Why do you think so?

“There was no point in it. Many physicists objected to the production of Tsar Bomba, in particular Kurchatov and Kirill Shchelkin, who were key figures in the atomic project. As a result, Andrei Sakharov said that he would do it. But why? It was a big waste of material.

As far as I remember, after the creation of Tsar Bomba, the Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapon Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space and Under Water was signed

- Not certainly in that way. On April 12, 1961, we sent Yuri Gagarin into space. That is, they showed that our rocket was better than the American one. On October 30 of the same year, we tested the Tsar Bomba. The shock wave from the explosion circled the globe three times. This marked the beginning of the nuclear arms race and the Cold War. It was after this that the Cuban Missile Crisis of 1962 broke out, which brought the world to the brink of disaster. And the contract was signed only in 1963.

Did they realize in the West that now Soviet missiles can carry powerful charges to the right place?

- Certainly. Why did the Cuban missile crisis arise? After all, not because the diplomats did the wrong thing. In the early 1960s, John F. Kennedy asked the military what cities the USSR could destroy in the United States. They answered "New York". Then the president said that he could not "risk even one American city, because in the Soviet Union there is a rocket aimed at New York at the start." The fate of the world was decided by the nuclear power of this or that country. By the way, the USSR reached nuclear parity with the USA only in 1972. From that moment on, the Soviet Union could destroy 80% of their potential.

Full-scale model of the Tsar Bomb AN602 in the Museum of Nuclear Weapons RFNC-VNIIEF © Wikipedia

You wrote in your books that the mention of participation in a nuclear test was equated with treason

- Yes. Once I asked Zeldovich, one of the creators of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, to share with me his memories of the first nuclear test. This was already the end of the 1960s, that is, 20 years after the end of these events. After reviewing some documents, the scientist said that he had no right to divulge anything for another six to seven years. The same thing happened with Yuliy Khariton.

How high was the level of secrecy?

- The secrecy system was an exact copy of the American one.

However, the Soviet atomic program differed from the American one in that there were several people in the United States who worked for us, while in the USSR there was not a single specialist who would work for Washington.