50°26′15″N77°48′51″E / 50.43750°N 77.81417°E /50.43750; 77.81417
| RDS-1 | |
|---|---|
 The first Soviet atomic bomb, "RDS-1", was an implosion-type, like the U.S. "Fat Man" bomb, even in appearance; the front "eyes" areradar fuzes. | |
| Type | Nuclear weapon |
| Place of origin | Soviet Union |
| Specifications | |
| Mass | 4.6 tons |
| Blast yield | 22 kt (92 TJ) |
TheRDS-1 (Russian:РДС-1), also known asIzdeliye 501 (device 501) andFirst Lightning (Russian:Пе́рвая мо́лния,romanized:Pyérvaya mólniya,IPA:[ˈpʲervəjəˈmolnʲɪjə]),[1] was the nuclear bomb used in theSoviet Union's firstnuclear weapon test. The United States assigned it the code-nameJoe-1, in reference toJoseph Stalin. It was detonated on 29 August 1949 at 7:00 a.m.,[2] at theSemipalatinsk Test Site,Kazakh SSR,[3] after top-secret research and development as part of theSoviet atomic bomb project.[citation needed]
There are several explanations for the Soviet code-name of RDS-1, usually an arbitrary designation: abackronym "Special Jet Engine" (Реактивный двигатель специальный,Reaktivnyi Dvigatel Spetsialnyi), or "Stalin's Jet Engine" (Реактивный двигатель Сталина,Reaktivnyi Dvigatel Stalina), or "Russia does it herself" (Россия делает сама,Rossiya Delayet Sama).[4] Later weapons were also designated RDS but with different model numbers.
The weapon was designed at theKurchatov Institute, then at the time officially known as "Laboratory № 2" but designated as the "office" or "base" in internal documents, starting in April 1946.[5] Plutonium for the bomb was produced at the industrial complexChelyabinsk-40.[6]
The RDS-1explosive yield was 22 kilotonsTNT equivalent, similar to the USGadget andFat Man bombs.[7] AtLavrentiy Beria's insistence, the RDS-1 bomb was designed as animplosion type weapon, similar to the Fat Man bomb dropped onNagasaki, Japan; RDS-1 also had a solidplutonium core. The bomb designers had developed a more sophisticated design (tested later asRDS-2) but rejected it because of the known reliability of the Fat Man type design, the Soviets having receivedextensive intelligence on the design of the Fat Man bomb duringWorld War II, which was discovered in the espionage case ofJulius and Ethel Rosenberg[8] and during theVenona project.[9]
To test the effects of the new weapon, workers constructed houses made of wood and bricks, along with a bridge, and a simulatedmetro railway in the vicinity of the test site. Armoured 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.[citation needed] In a sector of artillery about 100 guns and mortars were placed at distances ranging from 250 to 1,800 meters from ground zero. At distances 500 to 550 meters from ground zero artillery pieces were either totally destroyed or needed factory repair.[10] The resulting data showed the RDS explosion to be 50% more destructive than originally estimated by its engineers.[citation needed]
Mikhail Pervukhin served as the chairman of the commission in charge of the RDS-1 testing.[citation needed]
Five RDS-1 weapons were completed as a pilot series by March 1950 with serial production of the weapon beginning in December 1951.[11]
SomeUnited States Air ForceWB-29 weather reconnaissance aircraft were fitted with special filters to collect atmospheric radioactive debris. On 3 September 1949, the Air Force Office of Atomic Energy had a WB-29 fly fromMisawa Air Base in Japan toEielson Air Force Base in Alaska. The plane collected some debris during this flight. This data was then cross-checked with data from later flights, and it was determined that the Soviet Union had effectively tested a nuclear weapon.[12]
The test surprised the Western powers. American intelligence had estimated that the Soviets would not produce an atomic weapon until 1953, while the British did not expect it until 1954.[13] When thenuclear fission products from the test were detected by the U.S. Air Force, the United States began to follow the trail of thenuclear fallout debris.[14] PresidentHarry S. Truman notified the world of the situation on 23 September 1949: "We have evidence that within recent weeks an atomic explosion occurred in the U.S.S.R."[15] Truman's statement likely in turn surprised the Soviets, who had hoped to keep the test a secret to avoid encouraging the Americans to increase their atomic programs, and did not know that the United States had built a test-detection system using theWB-29 Superfortress.[14] The announcement was a turning point in theCold War, that had just begun. Once the Soviet Union was confirmed to be in possession of the atomic bomb, pressure mounted to develop the firsthydrogen bomb.[15]
Following Truman's announcement, Soviet state newspaperTASS released a report. It suggested the West had detected signatures from excavation works in the Soviet Union. Nonetheless it stated the Soviet Union possessed nuclear weapons, and noted the November 1947 claim by Minister of Foreign AffairsVyacheslav Molotov, that the Soviet Union understood the "secret" of nuclear weapons design.Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers Kliment Voroshilov internationally reiterated nuclear capability five months later in March 1950.[16]
The RDS-1 device was put into weapons production from 1949 to 1951, stockpiling 29 bombs, compared to the US' 1947 to 1949 production of 120 first-generationFat Man bombs.[17]
Scientists succeeded in producing weapon-grade plutonium in April 1949 which was used in the first Soviet atomic bomb
