World: A HISTORY OF RUSSIAN TESTING

They Have Concentrated on Heavy

Bombs Lifted by Big Boosters

When did the Russians start testing? The Russians exploded their first nuclear device in September 1949, only four years and two months after the first U.S. test at Alamogordo, N. Mex.. in July 1945. The Russian test involved a primitive fission bomb similar to the two U.S. bombs used in World War II, but the Russians must have started work immediately on the more advanced hydrogen bomb. On Aug. 12. 1953. they exploded their first test H-bomb, only nine months after the first U.S. H-bomb test at Eniwetok Island in the Pacific.

Where do the Russians test? The region near Semipalatinsk. scene of last week’s explosion, is one of Russia’s test sites in Central Asia, where large areas are almost uninhabited. Russian-owned islands in the Arctic Ocean may be sites of the biggest Soviet tests.

What bombs have the Russians tested? The Russians are believed to have a well-tested arsenal of H-bombs, but there is reason to believe that their bombs may be heavier than U.S. bombs of the same explosive yield. Strong evidence for this speculation is the powerful booster rocket that the Russians are now using so effectively for their space spectaculars. The big rockets were developed at great cost because they were needed to carry very heavy loads. The U.S.. which had lighter H-bombs in prospect, was slow to concentrate on giant rockets. Little is known about other Russian nu clear weapons, but presumably the Soviets have most of the types that are now operational in the U.S.

What Russian weapons need testing? Probably the most urgent Soviet need is for testing powerful but light nuclear warheads that can be carried by comparatively small missiles like the U.S. Polaris and Minuteman. The great boosters used for Russian space shots are so expensive that they cannot be produced in large numbers without straining the Soviet economy. If the Russians continue to make their tests in the atmosphere, U.S. nuclear physicists can come to fairly accurate conclusions about them by measuring the shock waves that they create, and by catching and analyzing their radioactive byproducts. The results of underground tests would be easier to conceal.

Can the Russians build a 100-megaton bomb? There is no reason why not. Increasing the power of an H-bomb is not a simple matter of adding more of the explosive ingredients; careful designing and testing are called for too. But U.S. experts agree that the U.S. could easily build “gigaton” (billion-ton) bombs if there were a need for them. So could the Russians.

How many nuclear bombs have the Russians? They have too many. In the early years of the Atomic Age. it was difficult to turn out primitive A-bombs in quantity because they were made of plutonium or uranium 235. and both elements require enormous plants for production. The advent of the H-bomb was a big break for the Russians because H-bomb ingredients (deuterium, lithium, etc.) are comparatively cheap and easy to get. Chances are that the Russians have turned most of their plutonium and U-235 into detonators for H-bombs. This should give them enough nuclear explosives to wreck or poison most of the earth.

Can the Russians deliver big H-bombs? The Soviet rocket system that can loft a five-ton capsule into orbit can certainly deliver several times that weight anywhere on earth. Russian-built loo-megaton bombs would not be too heavy to be carried by rocket to New York, Washington or Phoenix. One such bomb could surely destroy New York, and its fallout would kill most people exposed within 100 miles or more downwind.

Such rocket strikes would probably be few. but in all-out nuclear war Russian-manned bombers would also at tack the U.S.. and some of them would surely reach their targets. Russian submarines would attack coastal cities. They may not have Polaris-type rockets that can be fired underwater, but they could surface at night and fire similar missiles with nuclear war heads. “Suitcase” bombs hidden in U.S. cities by saboteurs and nuclear mines planted in harbors by Communist-controlled ships might be novel features of the earth’s first (and possibly last) nuclear war.

Can the U.S. strike back? It certainly can. Some U.S. ICBMs are now ready to fly, and nuclear submarines are already at sea. each carrying 16 Polaris missiles ready to fire on signal. Other missiles, such as Thors and Matadors, are set to strike at Soviet centers from close-in European and Asian bases. The 6-523 and 6-473 of the Strategic Air Command are poised to make a massed attack across most Soviet borders. Many of them can surely get through, and a single 6-52 carries enough explosive to wreck any city on earth.