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On October 30, 1961, the Soviet Union tested the most powerful atomic bomb in the history of mankind. Since then, the nuclear arms race has begun. This selection of the best museums atomic weapons, which can tell about the history of its creation, the most powerful explosions and their consequences.
Pioneer among open Russian Federation museums that keep the memory of the creation of the national nuclear weapons celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. The idea to create such a museum at the Research Institute of Experimental Physics first arose back in 1977. It was decided to build a spacious building equipped with modern equipment, with a huge conference hall and exhibition galleries - a kind of Museum of the Institute's Glory.
But before the decree of the Government of the USSR prohibiting the construction of social facilities, it was only possible to drive piles under the foundation - on that everything froze for many years. On February 28, 1992, during a visit to the city of Sarov, where the institute is located, President Boris Yeltsin agreed to declassify a number of nuclear weapons that had become history at that time. Thus, the first seven treasures of the future museum arose, including the first RDS-1 atomic bomb, the R-7 rocket head, the first RDS-6 hydrogen bomb, the first RDS-4 serial bomb, the head of the Luna tactical missile system and the warhead multiple reentry vehicle of the R-36M rocket, as well as the most powerful experimental bomb in the world.
In November 1992, the leadership of the nuclear industry and VNIIEF solemnly opened the doors of a new museum dedicated to nuclear weapons to everyone. Since then, what was hidden under the neck state secret and what the greatest minds pored over at night, you can not only see with your own eyes, but also touch it: for example, a model of a test facility nuclear charges in wells with a diameter of 920 mm at depths up to 1000 meters.
Museum missile troops strategic purpose in Pervomaisk, Ukraine
By 1994, the Ukrainian military was armed with 176 missile systems, more than 1,200 nuclear warheads, and 2,500 tactical nuclear weapons. In the 90s of the last century, with the beginning of disarmament, small and medium range, the level of combat readiness was lowered, and already in 2001 Ukraine became a non-nuclear power, blowing up the last mine with a nuclear warhead.
In memory of the times of nuclear power on the basis of the 46th missile division near the city of Pervomaisk, the Museum of Strategic Missile Forces was created. There is a combat starting position here, where in its original form command post rocket launch, where the same “START” button, a silo launcher, ground equipment and many auxiliary exhibits were located. All the exhibits are in good working order and are in a state of combat readiness, only the nodes intended for launching missiles have been eliminated.
One of the halls tells the story of the 46th Missile Division, another tells about the stages of liquidation of military bases, the third one tells about the modern existence of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and the fourth one tells about the terrible fate of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The museum contains a model of the famous R-12 rocket, one of many based in Cuba during the Caribbean crisis, a model of a huge RS-20V intercontinental ballistic missile, fragments of shell casings of the Great Patriotic War and more than two thousand various exhibits.
Japanese city of Nagasaki before the explosion atomic bomb had never been bombed on a large scale before. On August 9, 1945, the world changed - in the sky over the industrial valley of Nagasaki, the Fat Man atomic bomb with a capacity of 20 kilotons and a mass of 4.5 tons exploded. More than 73 thousand people died or went missing as a result of the explosion, another 35 thousand died from the effects of radiation and injuries received during the explosion.
A nuclear strike turned a prosperous city into a real cemetery. In 1996, a new Atomic Bomb Museum was opened at the site of the explosion, located in the suburbs of Nagasaki. Its terrible exhibits, and through the decades conveying all the horror of the tragedy, will not leave anyone indifferent. The archives of the museum contain photographs, videos, documents and objects related to the victims of August 9, 1945. Although the museum is intended to tell the story of the bombing of Nagasaki, its exhibitions also convey the history of the creation of nuclear weapons.
Among the hundreds of exhibits, two stand out in particular: a life-size mock-up of the Fat Man bomb and a clock that stopped counting down to the minute when the city shook nuclear explosion. It is not forbidden to take pictures in the museum, but few people think of capturing the atmosphere of horror transmitted here. In the last room there is a large map of the world, on which the active members of the Atomic Club are marked, and next to it is the International Hall of Memory for the Victims of the Atomic Bomb, where the lists of the dead are kept and you can sit down and think about what you see.
At one of the Nevada test sites, where nuclear tests have been carried out since 1951, a museum resembling a shelter was opened in 2005. Its exhibits show the stages of development nuclear weapons and the power of the nuclear giant - the United States. Inside, a frightening post-apocalyptic atmosphere reigns: Geiger counters and protective uniforms are on display in the twilight of bunker-like galleries. Videos of real explosions are shown in the cinema hall. By the way, there is something to show, because in the period before 1992, a hundred atmospheric and more than 800 underground atomic and hydrogen bombs were blown up at this test site.
Museum visitors who want to try their hand can even take part in nuclear tests and press the treasured button. The gift shop offers a huge selection of different souvenirs: T-shirts and caps with the museum logo, key rings in the form of bombs, rockets and molecular compounds. After the explosion at Fukushima, an inexhaustible stream of people poured here, wanting to learn more about the risks and ways to protect against the unrestrained power of the not-so-peaceful atom.
Guests of the Russian Federal Nuclear Center - VNIIEF, its employees, residents of Sarov - all visit the historical and memorial Museum of Nuclear Weapons, opened on November 13, 1992, with great interest.
Museum visitors will get acquainted with one of the most interesting pages national history. For many years it was completely classified, and today you can see samples of the developments of the country's first nuclear center and learn about the events that have taken place here for more than half a century.
Our museum is the first in the country that tells about the main stages of the creation of the domestic nuclear shield.
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The story about the work of KB-11 (RFNC-VNIIEF) is preceded by materials about the past unique places where the nuclear shield of Russia was created.
The earliest mentions of settlements in these places date back to the 13th century. At the end of the 17th century, these reserved places were chosen by the monks. One of the first buildings of the Sarov Monastery appeared in 1706. It was a small wooden temple, which received beautiful name churches Holy Mother of God, Its life-giving source. At that time only a few monks lived in the monastery. A century later, the monastery brethren numbered about three hundred people, and the buildings of the monastery were distinguished by their diversity and beauty.
Thousands of pilgrims came here to pray and bathe in holy springs. The glory of the Sarov desert has especially increased thanks to the elder Seraphim, one of the monks of the monastery. He lived in it at the end of the 18th - beginning of the 19th centuries and during his lifetime he became a real saint for Orthodox believers. The official canonization, that is, canonization, took place in the summer of 1903. Then the monastery was visited by Emperor Nicholas II and his wife, Empress Alexandra Feodorovna. On the model, placed in the center of the historical hall of the museum, the Sarovskaya Hermitage Monastery is recreated from photographs from the beginning of the 20th century.
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The main exposition of the museum tells about its history, about the labor feat of its employees. The key exhibits of this section of the exposition are samples of products that have become a legend in the history of the country's nuclear industry: the first Soviet atomic bomb RDS-1 (charge and case), the famous Tatyana, or RDS-4, the first serial atomic bomb; the first artillery shell with a nuclear charge, as well as warheads of the first strategic missiles USSR and a sample of the world's most powerful experimental thermonuclear bomb tested in 1961 over the Novaya Zemlya archipelago.
A selection of materials on the creation of the nuclear industry in the USSR brings us back to those moments in history that became a turning point for the Soviet state and the world as a whole. By detonating two atomic bombs over Japanese cities on August 6 and 9, 1945, the United States demonstrated to the world its priority in the possession of nuclear weapons. The leadership of the USSR decided to give a worthy rebuff to this challenge in order to preserve state independence. The country, which did not have time to heal the wounds inflicted by the terrible war, began to forge its own nuclear shield. On August 20, 1945, the so-called First Main Directorate (PGU) of the USSR was formed to organize a new industry, its operational management and solve the most difficult defense tasks set by the country's government.
The new branch was headed by Boris Lvovich Vannikov, who during the war served as People's Commissar of Ammunition. Igor Vasilyevich Kurchatov became the scientific director of the entire Soviet atomic project. On the part of the government, the work of PGU throughout the country was supervised by Lavrenty Pavlovich Beria.
In the large chain of enterprises that made up the new industry, our center ("object"), which was created in April 1946 and received the name KB-11, played an important role. His task was formulated very clearly and precisely - to create prototype atomic bomb. The first leaders of the new center were Pavel Mikhailovich Zernov (head of the "object") and Yuliy Borisovich Khariton ( chief designer, then scientific director of KB-11 for almost fifty years). The scope of duties of Zernov and Khariton was very wide. It was necessary to simultaneously develop the design of the first atomic bomb and carry out a lot of experimental work, equip test sites, build production facilities and housing - in a word, create a base that would allow the ideas of scientists to come true.
Priority in KB-11 from the very beginning had research and engineering work. In the spring of 1947, more than three hundred specialists arrived here. Since that time, a unique research team has been formed in KB-11 - a unity of theoreticians, experimenters and production workers, which is the basis for more than half a century of successful work of the nuclear center.
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A significant role in the creation of the first atomic bomb belongs to two experimental plants KB-11. Working in the most difficult conditions, they provided the material base for scientific research and design development. Scientists, designers, engineers, workers all worked selflessly to create the first sample of the Soviet atomic bomb. They worked 12-16 hours a day. It took less than three years for the first Soviet nuclear charge to be developed, designed and implemented in a specific product. Its successful test took place on August 29, 1949 at the Semipalatinsk test site in Kazakhstan. The power of the explosion was 20 kt in TNT equivalent.
Now museum visitors can see the famous RDS-1 charge in one of the halls. Nearby is the remote control, the signal from which this charge was blown up, and the case of an aerial bomb made for it. The bomb was a large product (its length was 3.7 m, diameter 1.5 m, weight 4.6 tons), similar to the American Fat Man bomb detonated in 1945 over Nagasaki. The similarity is not accidental - intelligence took an active part in the creation of our first product, transferring to the USSR information voluntarily submitted American specialists. The charges, however, differ significantly, the RDS-1 is an analogue, and not a copy of the first American nuclear charge tested on July 16, 1945 in New Mexico.
Snezhinsk - until recently - a strictly classified nuclear center of the Institute of Technical Physics.
The smallest nuclear weapon is a 152 mm artillery shell. Withstands overload of an artillery shot without destruction and loss of performance. Designed in the contours of the standard high-explosive projectile to the self-propelled gun.
Missile operational-tactical purpose
The operational-tactical missile, known in the world as solid rocket"Skad" ground-based, has two warheads: non-nuclear and nuclear. Length 11 m, diameter 880 mm, firing range up to 370 km.
2/3 of the nuclear weapons of the USSR were developed here. In the museum of the center you can see the largest hydrogen bomb, known as "Kuzkin's mother", and the smallest atomic bomb - a howitzer projectile, with a flight range of 30 km.
Monoblock head part lightweight design with a small-sized powerful charge
Warhead for the first multiple reentry vehicle of a sea-launched ballistic missile
The start keys of the first atomic and the first hydrogen explosions. Snezhinsk is one of the most modern research and production centers in the Urals and Russia.
The first warhead of a multiple warhead with individual guidance to aiming points
It was intended for installation on a rocket that is part of the new missile system. BB weight 210 kg.
Capsules with keys
Capsules with authentic keys to the towers on which the first atomic and first thermonuclear charges were tested. These keys were handed over to the museum by the test participant Georgy Pavlovich Lominsky, who was the last to leave the towers.
Industrial nuclear charges
Developed in the second half of the 1960s. especially for underground explosions intended for industrial and scientific purposes
Thermonuclear bomb.
The bomb was intended for carrying out full-scale tests of high-yield nuclear charges (20–50 megatons). She represents ballistic body streamlined tail. Diameter 2 m, length 8 m, weight 30 tons.
Nuclear bomb for use from supersonic aircraft
First atomic bomb mastered serial production and adopted by front-line and long-range aviation.
Length 3365 mm, diameter 580 mm, weight 450 kg.
Detachable monoblock warhead of a ballistic missile
The launch is carried out from a submarine at a distance of up to 1500 km. In that missile system For the first time, an underwater launch of a rocket from a depth of 40-50 m was implemented.
The product incorporates a thermonuclear charge of a megaton class.
Overall dimensions: length 2300 mm, diameter 1304 mm.
Weight 1144 kg
The warhead of an intercontinental ballistic missile
Length 1893 mm, midsection diameter 1300 mm, weight 736 kg. Charge thermonuclear megaton class. The housing has a multilayer structure, providing for a load-bearing shell and thermal protection.
The warhead of an operational-tactical missile
The product is an inseparable part of the rocket. Length 2870 mm, midsection diameter 880 mm, weight 950 kg. The charge is nuclear, with a capacity of several tens of kilotons. The power shell of the body is made of steel. The case has thermal protection and thermal insulation, the tip is made of a radio-transparent material.
The very first hydrogen bomb, mastered by mass production and adopted by strategic aviation.
End of development - 1962
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Sarov
Sarov, until recently called Arzamas-16, is a special city for two reasons. Firstly, this land is associated with the name of the great saint Reverend Father Seraphim of Sarov.
Here he passed the difficult path of spiritual ascent, performed miracles of healing, taught compassion and love by his example. Secondly, it was in Sarov that the atomic and hydrogen bombs were created in the middle of the 20th century in opposition to the American monopoly on the possession of nuclear weapons.
Sarov is a closed city. At one time, people were not only not allowed into it, but they were hardly let out of there. Now any resident of the city can freely enter and leave Sarov and even invite close relatives to visit. However, for all three hours of driving from Nizhny Novgorod there is not a single pointer to Sarov. City with a population of 89 thousand people. surrounded by barbed wire and guarded almost like a state border. We drive up to the city: there is a concrete fence in front of us, and to get inside, you have to go through the checkpoint. After half an hour of waiting, they find us on the lists, and here we are inside.
Monday. Middle of a day. There are few cars on the streets, but also few people. “Is it always so quiet in your city?” - we ask. "Not always. It's the middle of the day now. Everyone is at work." - answer us.
Sarov is clean and calm. Cars drive 40 km. per hour (however, when we were there, two guys flew into a birch at a speed of 150 km per hour), you can drink tap water, the air smells like pine trees and forest grows in the yards. But at the same time, there are modern cinemas, stadiums, an ice palace, other achievements of civilization and science Center world level.
The history of the city dates back to the end of the 17th century. In those days, at the confluence of the rivers Sara and Satis, where the city is now located, hermit monks settled. They lived in caves that they dug themselves.
Cell. The temperature in the underground apartments is plus eight degrees, the humidity is 100%.
Underground church. There are similar caves under the Kiev Caves Monastery.
At the beginning of the 18th century, the hermits moved upstairs and, under the guidance of the monk John, in 1706 built a monastery, which was called the Sarov Hermitage. Soon it became the richest and most revered monastery, a major center of Orthodoxy.
Church above the source. Photo by Nadezhda Bugrova.
At the end of the 18th century, the youth Prokhor came to the Sarov Hermitage, who would soon become the revered elder Seraphim.
In 1903, on the occasion of the canonization of St. Seraphim of Sarov, festive events, which was attended by about 300 thousand people, including Tsar Nicholas II and his family.
With the advent of Soviet power, the monastery was closed and ruined.
The next round of the history of Sarov begins after the atomic bombings of Haroshima and Nagasaki by the US armed forces in 1945. The Soviet leadership is urgently making every effort to develop its own nuclear weapons. Sarov is chosen as a suitable place for such production - it is not far from Moscow, but at the same time it is fenced with impenetrable Mordovian forests. Very quickly, the territory is surrounded by barbed wire, removed from all maps, and on the site of a small monastic settlement, the city and what is now called RFNC VNIIEF (Russian Federal Nuclear Center All-Russian Research Institute of Experimental Physics) are rebuilt.
The body of the first atomic bomb created at the facility. Charge power 20 kt.e. 1949
The first hydrogen bomb with a capacity of 400 ktoe. was created there and tested in 1953.
Thermonuclear warhead for an intercontinental ballistic missile with a multiple reentry vehicle. Power 2 megatons toe For comparison firepower of all weapons used by all countries during the Second World War is about 5 megatons toe.
"Tsar bomb" or "Kuzkina mother" with a capacity of 50 megatons toe. After its explosion in October 1961 at the test site " new earth"at an altitude of 4 km, the radiation caused burns of the third degree at a distance of up to 100 kilometers, seismic stations around the world recorded incomprehensible shocks for three days, witnesses felt the blow and were able to describe the explosion at a distance of a thousand kilometers from its center. This explosion contributed to the signing of the treaty banning nuclear weapons tests in the atmosphere, outer space and underwater on August 5, 1963.
Museum of Nuclear Weapons.
Sarov is called " Nuclear shield Russia". The atmosphere in it is rather scientific, but since the 90s, Orthodox traditions have been gradually revived. In 2006, the Sarov Pustyn Monastery reopened. “Why do you need a fence,” I ask the Sarovites, “after all, with modern means communication, you can sell all the secrets without leaving your apartment? "Do you think we're behind the thorn?" - Lyosha answers - “And we think that you live behind a thorn. It's practically heaven here!" Maybe not everyone will agree with this, but, judging by the answers, many do.
Photo by Nadezhda Bugrova.
The rest of the photos are here -
The horrors of the Cold War are fading with legacies Soviet Union. In Western Bohemia, near the settlement of Misov, there is the Atomic Museum. This is an underground structure where nuclear warheads belonging to Soviet army. The secret bunker, built in Czechoslovakia in 1960, has retained its original appearance. The underground warehouse was under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Defense of the Soviet state.
Were there warheads?
The museum is the only place in the world open at a nuclear warhead facility. The secrecy of this object was set to such an extent that there are still doubts about whether nuclear shells actually existed here. There are a huge number of such bunkers in the post-Soviet space, but only in the Czech Republic they were able to open a museum.
The warehouse is located underground (16 meters), consists of 4 levels. Its scale is impressive, it can accommodate up to 5,000 people. Above the bunker is a square with a playground. The entrance is a small door on the terrace, painted with graffiti.
Inside the secret bunker
Two wide spiral staircases lead down along the walls of a vertical rounded shaft. One gangway used to serve as a descent, the second as an ascent. Now there is one common staircase, and the gap between the gangways has been converted into a climbing wall. The vast territory of the secret warehouse, divided into parts, one of the parts is rented by a bar. Its walls are painted and it does not have a very attractive appearance. Probably, the inner atmosphere itself is not conducive to fun.
The passage through the tunnel from the bar to the museum itself is about 60 meters. The bunker is in no hurry to reveal all its secrets, most of the doors to the tunnels are locked, what is behind them is incomprehensible. AT open doors stairs are visible, it can be assumed that they lead to other levels.
The special atmosphere of the museum
In general, the bunker is in good condition. But the gloomy lighting, long corridors, ventilation hoods above your head, complex mechanisms cause an unreal feeling, as if you are plunging into the times of the arms race and the atomic war forced you to sink underground. This is getting a little creepy.
The placed mannequins create a special atmosphere of the Atomic Museum. The meaning of their finding is to demonstrate the means of protection. There is a demonstration by mannequins of entire families in full force: parents and small children. There is a lot of personal protective equipment, a large rack, cabinets with gas masks, as well as other types designed to protect against bacteriological, chemical, nuclear contamination.
Global nuclear power
Service nuclear technology, missiles, ammunition required huge investments. To service the deadly charge, the secret warehouse contained cargo cranes, powerful engines, ultra-high vacuum pumps. Mighty concrete walls, bulky steel gates, 4 storage chambers were built for 80 nuclear atomic charges.
Impressive equipment, large-scale equipment has been preserved and is now presented in the Atomic Museum, along with posters and photographs of those times. At present, it remains only to imagine what can happen to the world if such capacities are launched.
According to reliable information, the bunker was built as a storage facility for combat atomic charges of medium, short-range missiles with a fairly large radius of destruction. To bring such missiles to full combat readiness, it will take only 2 hours, and forward, you can attack, for example, West Berlin, which at that time was an enemy camp.
Monument to the Cold War
The scale of catastrophes from the use of nuclear weapons is known to the entire world community. Combat capabilities secret underground bunker were not involved. This is very significant. But history makes you wonder, and attractions such as the Atomic Museum in Prague, one of the significant monuments cold war. Its unusual exhibits make you think about the future, and also remind you of the time when the lives of millions of people were in the balance.
There are many unsolved secrets in the museum, it waits for its visitors on Saturdays, and excursions take place at 11-00, at 15-00.
Museum website: atommuzeum.cz
Tel: 605 292 461, 777 828 112.
