Soviet atomic bomb project

The Soviet atomic bomb project was authorized by <a href="/facts/Joseph_Stalin/SHtxGyQn">Joseph Stalin</a> in the <a href="/facts/Soviet_Union/m7wWsPto">Soviet Union</a> to develop <a href="/facts/Nuclear_weapon/QVdBcMdm">nuclear weapons</a> during and after <a href="/facts/World_War_II/2efV5L1U">World War II</a>.
Russian physicist <a href="/facts/Georgy_Flyorov/qhcQHs2q">Georgy Flyorov</a> suspected that the <a href="/facts/Allies_of_World_War_II/YzCdtjDY">Allied powers</a> were secretly developing a "<a href="/facts/Weapon_of_mass_destruction/JfsDSeGo">superweapon</a>" since 1939. Flyorov urged Stalin to start a nuclear program in 1942.: 78–79  Early efforts mostly consisted of research at <a href="/facts/Kurchatov_Institute/lSkWUomv">Laboratory No. 2</a> in <a href="/facts/Moscow/AcFYpQUR">Moscow</a>, and intelligence gathering of Soviet-sympathizing <a href="/facts/Atomic_spies/Fm6Kc92U">atomic spies</a> in the US <a href="/facts/Manhattan_Project/gtg8yRK2">Manhattan Project</a>. Subsequent efforts involved plutonium production at <a href="/facts/Mayak/cg02oPc7">Mayak</a> in <a href="/facts/Chelyabinsk_Oblast/RqfIQBMf">Chelyabinsk</a> and weapon research and assembly at <a href="/facts/KB-11/oBMF2dKh">KB-11</a> in <a href="/facts/Sarov/R6rkT844">Sarov</a>.
After Stalin learned of the <a href="/facts/Atomic_bombings_of_Hiroshima_and_Nagasaki/fRpj8aJA">atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki</a>, the nuclear program was accelerated through intelligence gathering about the Manhattan Project and <a href="/facts/German_nuclear_weapon_project/Eot0thNx">German nuclear weapon project</a>. Espionage coups, especially via <a href="/facts/Klaus_Fuchs/7IUrcfMf">Klaus Fuchs</a> and <a href="/facts/David_Greenglass/IMrGjIYA">David Greenglass</a>, included detailed descriptions of the <a href="/facts/Implosion-type_nuclear_weapon/gw0LEc74">implosion-type</a> <a href="/facts/Fat_Man/2vlxvS9a">Fat Man</a> bomb and plutonium production. In the final months of the war, the Soviet "<a href="/facts/Russian_Alsos/qLhC2UTQ">Russian Alsos</a>" task force competed against the Western Allies' <a href="/facts/Alsos_Mission/LkszbEGV">Alsos Mission</a> to capture German and Austrian nuclear scientists and material, including refined uranium and <a href="/facts/Cyclotrons/Q8APwhWm">cyclotrons</a>.: 242–243  The Soviet project utilized <a href="/facts/East_German/PwI902Q6">East German</a> industry for further uranium mining, refinement, and instrument manufacture. <a href="/facts/Lavrentiy_Beria/LpnSYgsR">Lavrentiy Beria</a> was placed in charge of the atomic project, and the replication of the Nagasaki <a href="/facts/Plutonium/4bUw9zH3">plutonium</a> <a href="/facts/Implosion-type_nuclear_weapon/gw0LEc74">weapon</a> was prioritized.
The Manhattan Project had <a href="/facts/Combined_Development_Agency/qXGNszut">established a monopoly</a> on the global <a href="/facts/Uranium_market/dyynrlN4">uranium market</a>. The Soviet project relied on <a href="/facts/SAG_Wismut/flvfA8db">SAG Wismut</a> in East Germany and the development of the <a href="/facts/Taboshar/yl2Kfjj3">Taboshar</a> mine in Tajikistan. Domestic large-scale production of <a href="/facts/Nuclear_graphite/oH05cyQh">high purity graphite</a> and high purity uranium metal, to construct plutonium production reactors, was a significant challenge.
In late 1946, <a href="/facts/F-1_(nuclear_reactor)/k1F2hUFg">F-1</a>, the first <a href="/facts/Nuclear_reactor/8xqjIbge">nuclear reactor</a> outside North America, achieved criticality at Laboratory No. 2, led by <a href="/facts/Igor_Kurchatov/4CpFvwoj">Igor Kurchatov</a>. In mid-1948, the <a href="/facts/A-1_(nuclear_reactor)/f1KfQdsm">A-1</a> plutonium production reactor became operational at the <a href="/facts/Mayak_Production_Association/cg02oPc7">Mayak Production Association</a>, and in mid-1949, the first plutonium metal was separated. The first nuclear weapon was assembled at the <a href="/facts/KB-11/oBMF2dKh">KB-11</a> design bureau, led by <a href="/facts/Yulii_Khariton/dYpGd1n0">Yulii Khariton</a>, in the <a href="/facts/Closed_city/VYTh93hp">closed city</a> of <a href="/facts/Arzamas-16/R6rkT844">Arzamas-16</a> (Sarov).
On 29 August 1949, the Soviet Union secretly and successfully conducted its first weapon test, <a href="/facts/RDS-1/mgXDp8fa">RDS-1</a>, at the <a href="/facts/Semipalatinsk_Test_Site/WWDHCt0l">Semipalatinsk Test Site</a> of the <a href="/facts/Kazakh_Soviet_Socialist_Republic/qnq5kj2M">Kazakh SSR</a>. Simultaneously, project scientists had been developing conceptual <a href="/facts/Thermonuclear_weapons/T9zFe3H0">thermonuclear weapons</a>. The US detection of test, via anticipatory atmospheric <a href="/facts/Nuclear_fallout/I1kJkLKt">fallout</a> monitoring, led to a more rapid US program to develop thermonuclear weapons, and marked the opening of the <a href="/facts/Nuclear_arms_race/2IabKwkf">nuclear arms race</a> of the <a href="/facts/Cold_War/spJdJQ3q">Cold War</a>.
Following RDS-1, the Soviet nuclear program rapidly expanded. <a href="/facts/Boosted_fission/U11GQ2mf">Boosted fission</a> and multi-stage thermonuclear weapons were developed during the 1950s, testing expanded to <a href="/facts/Novaya_Zemlya/2CDJsNQK">Novaya Zemlya</a> and <a href="/facts/Kapustin_Yar/IpWRzUPs">Kapustin Yar</a>, and <a href="/facts/Fissile_material/XJR9qoxW">fissile material</a> production sites grew, including the invention of the <a href="/facts/Gas_centrifuge/Ea2L8xkh">gas centrifuge</a>. The program created demand for <a href="/facts/Nuclear_weapons_delivery/8jJuJnzD">nuclear weapons delivery</a>, influencing the <a href="/facts/Soviet_space_program/Nz5vfPGg">Soviet space program</a>.

Soviet atomic bomb project open-in-new

Soviet atomic bomb project