Article

2020-08-26 Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia

Russia Releases Footage Of A 100 Megaton Nuke Test From 1961

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Posted by Raj 2020-08-26 01:21|| || Front Page|| [8 views ] Top

#1 Correction - it was estimated at 50 megatons; coulda sworn I saw 100 megatons somewhere in the article. Still...

Posted by Raj 2020-08-26 01:40|| 2020-08-26 01:40|| Front Page Top

#2 According to legend, Khrushchev wanted a 100 MT explosion but the military, scientists and engineers involved cut it back for safety reasons.

Posted by AlmostAnonymous5839 2020-08-26 02:08|| 2020-08-26 02:08|| Front Page Top

#3 Severny Island

The bomb was detonated 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) above the Sukhoy Nos ("Dry Nose") cape of Severny Island

Fascinating story

Posted by Skidmark 2020-08-26 02:45|| 2020-08-26 02:45|| Front Page Top

#4 As for the bomb's yield:

"The initial three-stage design (coded A620EN, not tested) was capable of yielding approximately 100 Mt (420 PJ) through fast fission, 3,000 times the size of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombs,[23] but it was thought that it would have caused too much nuclear fallout and the aircraft delivering the bomb would not have had enough time to escape the explosion."

Posted by Elmerert Hupens2660 2020-08-26 07:35|| 2020-08-26 07:35|| Front Page Top

#5 Raj, I believe Severny Island is pretty much back to normal now.

Except for appearing in a Larry Correia book, that is.

Posted by Rob Crawford 2020-08-26 09:15|| 2020-08-26 09:15|| Front Page Top

#6 Today, it looks out of focus, or intentionally blurred. Satellite

Posted by Bobby 2020-08-26 09:44|| 2020-08-26 09:44|| Front Page Top

#7 I looked at one of the other related Youtube videos - the British guy said Sakharov inserted lead for half of the uranium charge ball (or whatever it's called) and that led to the nuke yield dropping from 100 megatons to 50.

Megaton - now that's a heavy metal band name if I ever heard one.

Posted by Raj 2020-08-26 12:03|| 2020-08-26 12:03|| Front Page Top

#8 Apparently the design allowed for a final fast fission stage.

The very fast neutrons emitted by fusion stage would have triggered fission of U238 which would have contributed the other 50 megatons, at the price of massive contamination with radioactive fission products.

Since they would have used depleted or natural uranium critical mass wouldn't have been an issue.

Posted by Elmerert Hupens2660 2020-08-26 13:13|| 2020-08-26 13:13|| Front Page Top

#9 The 'covert' Soviet test ended up not being so secret after all, given reports say the blast and resulting mushroom cloud were visible up to 621 miles away, further shattering windows in nearby Finland.

Widely considered to be the most powerful nuclear weapon ever created and tested, it was detonated 4,000 meters above a sparsely populated archipelago in the Barents Sea on Oct. 30, 1961 as part of a secretive test nevertheless detected by US intelligence.

No shit Sherlock

Posted by European Conservative 2020-08-26 18:13|| 2020-08-26 18:13|| Front Page Top

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