RDS-1
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Coordinates: 50°26′15″N 77°48′51″E / 50.4375°N 77.81417°E
The RDS-1 (Russian: РДС-1) was the Soviet Union's first nuclear weapon test. It is also known as Joe-1, in reference to Joseph Stalin. It was test-exploded on 29 August 1949, at Semipalatinsk, Kazakh SSR, after a top-secret R&D project.[1] The weapon was designed at the Kurchatov Institute—at the time officially known as "Laboratory № 2," but designated as the "office" or "base" in internal documents—starting in April 1946. A uranium-235 plant was built near Chelyabinsk in 1948.[1]
The RDS-1 explosion yielded 22 kilotons of TNT, similar to the American Gadget and Fat Man bombs. At Lavrenty Beria's insistence, the RDS-1 bomb was designed after the Fat Man bomb dropped on Nagasaki, Japan. The Soviets called it First Lightning (Первая молния, Pervaya molniya).
In order to test the effects of the new weapon, workers constructed houses made of wood and bricks, along with a bridge, and a simulated metro in the vicinity of the test site. Armor hardware and approximately 50 aircraft were also brought to the testing grounds, as well as over 1,500 animals to test the bomb's effects on life.[1] The resulting data showed the RDS explosion to be 50% more destructive than originally determined by its engineers.[1]
There are several explanations for the USSR code-name of RDS-1, usually an arbitrary designation: a backronym "Special Jet Engine" (Реактивный двигатель специальный, Reaktivnyi Dvigatel Specialnyi), or "Stalin's Jet Engine" (Реактивный двигатель Сталина, Reaktivnyi Dvigatel Stalina), or "Russia does it herself" (Россия делает сама, Rossiya Delayet Sama).[1] Later weapons were also designated RDS, but with different model numbers.
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d e Peslyak, Alexander (31 August 2009). "Russia: building a nuclear deterrent for the sake of peace (60th anniversary of the first Soviet atomic test)". RIA Novosti. http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20090831/155977682.html. Retrieved 9 September 2009.
[edit] External links
- Information about Joe 1 from Carey Sublette's NuclearWeaponArchive.org
- http://www.atomicmuseum.com/tour/coldwar.cfm
- http://www.kazakhembus.com/Nuc_gp.html
- Video of the Joe-1 Nuclear Test
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