Editing Soviet atomic bomb project (section)

==Early efforts==
===Background origins and roots===
{{Main|: Timeline of Russian inventions and technology records|History of the periodic table}}
As early as [[1910 in Russia]], independent research was being conducted on [[radioactive element]]s by several Russian scientists.<ref name="MIT Press Schmid">{{cite book|last1=Schmid|first1=Sonja D.|title=Producing Power: The Pre-Chernobyl History of the Soviet Nuclear Industry|date=2015|publisher=MIT Press|location=[S.l.]|isbn=978-0262028271|page=315|edition=|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UoPVBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA44 |access-date=12 June 2017|language=en|chapter-format=googlebooks|chapter=Dual Origins}}</ref>{{rp|44}}<ref name="Springer, Lante">{{cite book|last1=Lente|first1=Dick van|title=The Nuclear Age in Popular Media: A Transnational History, 1945–1965|date=2012|publisher=Springer|location=New York|isbn=978-1137086181|page=270|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6SwhAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA24 |access-date=12 June 2017|language=en|chapter-format=googlebooks|chapter=A Conspicuous Silence}}</ref>{{rp|24–25}} Despite the hardship faced by the Russian [[USSR Academy of Science|academy of sciences]] during the [[Russian Revolution|national revolution]] in 1917, followed by the violent [[Russian Civil War|civil war]] in 1922, Russian scientists had made remarkable efforts toward the advancement of physics research in the Soviet Union by the 1930s.<ref name="Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Johnson">{{cite book|last1=Johnson|first1=Paul R.|title=Early years of Soviet nuclear physics|date=1987|publisher=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists|location=U.S.|page=60|edition=2nd|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-wUAAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA36 |access-date=22 April 2017|language=en}}</ref>{{rp|35–36}} Before the [[Russian Revolution of 1905|first revolution]] in 1905, the mineralogist [[Vladimir Ivanovich Vernadsky|Vladimir Vernadsky]] had made a number of public calls for a survey of Russia's [[uranium]] deposits but none were heeded.<ref name="Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Johnson"/>{{rp|37}} Such early efforts were independently and privately funded by various organizations until 1922 when the [[V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute|Radium Institute]] in [[Saint Petersburg|Petrograd]] (now [[Saint Petersburg]]) opened and industrialized the research.{{rp|44}}<ref name="MIT Press Schmid"/>

From the 1920s until the late 1930s, Russian physicists had been conducting joint research with their European counterparts on the advancement of [[atomic physics]] at the [[Cavendish Laboratory]] run by a New Zealand physicist, [[Ernest Rutherford]], where [[George Gamow|Georgi Gamov]] and [[Pyotr Kapitsa]] had studied and researched.<ref name="Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Johnson"/>{{rp|36}}

Influential research towards the advancement of nuclear physics was guided by [[Abram Ioffe]], who was the director at the [[Ioffe Physical-Technical Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences|Leningrad Physical-Technical Institute]] (LPTI), having sponsored various research programs at various technical schools in the [[Soviet Union]].<ref name="Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Johnson"/>{{rp|36}} The discovery of the [[neutron]] by the British physicist [[James Chadwick]] further provided promising expansion of the LPTI's program, with the operation of the first [[cyclotron]] to energies of over 1 [[MeV]], and the first "splitting" of the atomic nucleus by [[John Cockcroft]] and [[Ernest Walton]].<ref name="Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Johnson"/>{{rp|36–37}} Russian physicists began pushing the government, lobbying in the interest of the development of science in the Soviet Union, which had received little interest due to the upheavals created during the [[Russian Revolution|Russian revolution]] and the [[February Revolution]].<ref name="Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Johnson"/>{{rp|36–37}} Earlier research was directed towards the medical and scientific exploration of [[radium]]; a supply of it was available as it could be retrieved from borehole water from the [[Ukhta]] oilfields.<ref name="Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, Johnson"/>{{rp|37}}

In 1939, German [[chemist]] [[Otto Hahn]] reported his discovery of [[nuclear fission|fission]], achieved by the splitting of [[uranium]] with [[neutron]]s that produced the much lighter element [[barium]]. This eventually led to the realization among Russian scientists, and their American counterparts, that such [[Nuclear reaction|reaction]] could have military significance.<ref name="W. W. Norton & Company, Richelson">{{cite book|last1=Richelson|first1=Jeffrey|title=Spying on the Bomb: American Nuclear Intelligence from Nazi Germany to Iran and North Korea|date=2007|publisher=W.W. Norton & Company|location=New York|isbn=978-0393329827|page=600|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8XQrAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA20 |access-date=12 June 2017|language=en|chapter-format=googlebooks|chapter=A Terrifying Prospect}}</ref>{{rp|20}} The discovery excited the Russian physicists, and they began conducting their independent investigations on nuclear fission, mainly aiming towards power generation, as many were skeptical of the possibility of creating an [[atomic bomb]] anytime soon.<ref name="ABC-CLIO, Burns 2013">{{cite book|last1=Burns|first1=Richard Dean|last2=Siracusa|first2=Joseph M.|title=A Global History of the Nuclear Arms Race: Weapons, Strategy, and Politics [2 volumes]: Weapons, Strategy, and Politics|date=2013|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=978-1440800955|page=641|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=EX2jAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA25 |access-date=12 June 2017|language=en|chapter-format=googlebooks|chapter=Soviet scientists began Quest}}</ref>{{rp|25}} Early efforts were led by [[Yakov Frenkel]] (a physicist specialised on [[Condensed matter physics|condensed matter]]), who did the first theoretical calculations on [[continuum mechanics]] directly relating the kinematics of [[Nuclear binding energy|binding energy]] in fission process in 1940.<ref name="W. W. Norton & Company, Richelson"/>{{rp|99}} [[Georgy Flyorov]]'s and [[Lev Rusinov]]'s collaborative work on thermal reactions concluded that 3–1 neutrons were emitted per fission only days after similar conclusions had been reached by the team of [[Frédéric Joliot-Curie]].<ref name="W. W. Norton & Company, Richelson"/>{{rp|63}}<ref name="CRC Press, Ponomarev">{{cite book|last1=Ponomarev|first1=L. I.|last2=Kurchatov|first2=I. V.|title=The Quantum Dice|date=1993|publisher=CRC Press|location=Bristol|isbn=978-0750302517|page=250|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iu0umhnc_00C&pg=PA200 |access-date=12 June 2017|language=en|chapter-format=googlebooks|chapter=Quantumalia}}</ref>{{rp|200}}

===World War II and accelerated feasibility===
{{Main|Eastern Front (World War II)}}
[[File:2352cc.jpg|thumb|250px|right|The 1942 Russian report on the feasibility of uranium titled: ''Disposition No. 2352: "On the organization of work on uranium''.]]

After a strong lobbying of Russian scientists, the [[Government of the Soviet Union|Soviet government]] initially set up a [[commission (government)|commission]] that was to address the "uranium problem" and investigate the possibility of chain reaction and [[isotope separation]].<ref name="Reed Business Information, Kelly">{{cite journal|last1=Kelly|first1=Peter|title=How the USSR Broke in the Nuclear Club|journal=New Scientist|date=8 May 1986|issue=1507|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MyU4bxbCfF8C&pg=PA33|access-date=12 June 2017|publisher=Reed Business Information|language=en|format=googlebooks}}{{Dead link|date=April 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>{{rp|33}} The Uranium Problem Commission was ineffective because the [[Operation Barbarossa|German invasion]] of [[Soviet Union]] eventually limited the focus on research, as Russia became engaged in a bloody conflict along the [[Eastern Front (World War II)|Eastern Front]] for the next four years.<ref name="Dover Publications, Allen">{{cite book|last1=Allen|first1=Thomas B.|last2=Polmar|first2=Norman|title=World War II : the encyclopedia of the war years 1941–1945|date=2012|publisher=Dover Publications|location=Mineola, N.Y.|isbn=978-0486479620|page=941|edition=|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=30gRAGjXrIIC&pg=PA115 |access-date=14 June 2017|language=en|chapter-format=googlebooks|chapter=Atomic Bomb: Soviet Union}}</ref>{{rp|114–115}}<ref name="Springer, Higham">{{cite book|last1=Higham|first1=R.|title=The Military History of the Soviet Union|date=2010|publisher=Springer|isbn=978-0230108219|page=400|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=952HDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA200 |access-date=12 June 2017|language=en|chapter-format=googlebooks|chapter=The Stalin Years: 1946–53}}</ref>{{rp|200}} The Soviet atomic weapons program had no significance, and most work was unclassified as the papers were continuously published as public domain in academic journals.<ref name="Reed Business Information, Kelly"/>{{rp|33}}

[[Joseph Stalin]], the [[Soviet leadership|Soviet leader]], had mostly disregarded the atomic knowledge possessed by the Russian scientists as had most of the scientists working in the [[metallurgy of Russia|metallurgy]] and [[mining industry of Russia|mining industry]] or serving in the [[Soviet Armed Forces]] technical branches during the [[World War II]]'s [[Eastern Front (World War II)|eastern front]] in 1940–42.<ref name="Little, Brown and Co.2010">{{cite book|last1=Kean|first1=Sam|title=The disappearing spoon and other true tales of madness, love, and the history of the world from the periodic table of the elements|date=2010|publisher=Little, Brown and Co.|location=New York|isbn=978-0316089081|edition=Sony eReader|format=googlebooks|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cky2x4wWvEUC&pg=PT94 |access-date=13 June 2017|language=en}}</ref>{{rp|xx}}

In 1940–42, [[Georgy Flyorov]], a Russian physicist serving as an officer in the [[Soviet Air Force]], noted that despite progress in other areas of physics, the [[German people|German]], [[British people|British]], and [[Americans|American]] scientists had ceased publishing papers on [[nuclear science]]. Clearly, they each had active secret research programs.<ref name="Yale University Press, 1999 Tsarev">{{cite book|last1=West|first1=Nigel|last2=Tsarev|first2=Oleg|title=The Crown Jewels: The British Secrets at the Heart of the KGB Archives|date=1999|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0300078060|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wO4-dEhKwpQC&pg=PA230 |access-date=13 June 2017|language=en|chapter-format=googlebooks|chapter=Atom Secrets}}</ref>{{rp|230}}<!-- If contextually correct, replace with: "He presumed that each had active secret research programs, a presumption that was correct." If not contextually correct, reword in some other way to remove "Clearly", which violates MOS:PRESUME --> The dispersal of Soviet scientists had sent [[Abram Ioffe]]'s [[V. G. Khlopin Radium Institute|Radium Institute]] from Leningrad to Kazan; and the wartime research program put the "uranium bomb" programme third, after radar and anti-mine protection for ships. Kurchatov had moved from Kazan to Murmansk to work on mines for the Soviet Navy.{{sfn|Erickson|1999|pp=79, 80}}

In April 1942, Flyorov directed two classified letters to Stalin, warning him of the consequences of the development of atomic weapons: "the results will be so overriding [that] it won't be necessary to determine who is to blame for the fact that this work has been neglected in our country."<ref name="Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. Hamilton 2016">{{cite book|last1=Hamilton|first1=William H.|last2=Sasser|first2=Charles W.|title=Night Fighter: An Insider's Story of Special Ops from Korea to SEAL Team 6|date=2016|publisher=Skyhorse Publishing, Inc.|isbn=978-1628726831|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1Zv1DAAAQBAJ&pg=PT21 |access-date=13 June 2017|language=en}}</ref>{{rp|xxx}} The second letter, by Flyorov and [[Konstantin Petrzhak]], highly emphasized the importance of a "uranium bomb": "it is essential to manufacture a uranium bomb without a delay."<ref name="Yale University Press, 1999 Tsarev"/>{{rp|230}}

Upon reading the Flyorov letters, Stalin immediately pulled Russian physicists from their respective military services and authorized an atomic bomb project, under [[engineering physics|engineering physicist]] [[Anatoly Alexandrov (physicist)|Anatoly Alexandrov]] and [[Nuclear Physics|nuclear physicist]] [[Igor Kurchatov|Igor V. Kurchatov]].<ref name="Yale University Press, 1999 Tsarev"/>{{rp|230}}<ref name="Little, Brown and Co.2010"/>{{rp|xx}} For this purpose, the [[Kurchatov Institute|Laboratory No. 2]] near [[Moscow]] was established under Kurchatov.<ref name="Yale University Press, 1999 Tsarev"/>{{rp|230}} Kurchatov was chosen in late 1942 as the technical director of the Soviet bomb program; he was awed by the magnitude of the task but was by no means convinced of its utility against the demands of the front.{{sfn|Erickson|1999|pp=79, 80}} [[Abram Ioffe]] had refused the post as he was too old, and recommended the young Kurchatov.
<!-- Is this a quote? If it is, please remove the italics and add quotation marks. It should also be sourced. --> 

At the same time, Flyorov was moved to [[Dubna]], where he established the [[Joint Institute for Nuclear Research|Laboratory of Nuclear Reactions]], focusing on [[synthetic element]]s and thermal reactions.<ref name="Little, Brown and Co.2010"/>{{rp|xx}} In late 1942, the [[State Defense Committee]] officially delegated the program to the [[Soviet Army]], with major wartime logistical efforts later being supervised by [[Lavrentiy Beria]], the [[Political commissar|head]] of [[Narodny Kommisariat Vnutrennikh Del|NKVD]].<ref name="Dover Publications, Allen"/>{{rp|114–115}}

In 1945, the [[Arzamas 16]] site, near Moscow, was established under [[Yakov Borisovich Zel'dovich|Yakov Zel'dovich]] and [[Yuli Khariton]] who performed calculations on nuclear combustion theory, alongside [[Isaak Pomeranchuk]].<ref name="ABC-CLIO, 2005">{{cite book|last1=Hamblin|first1=Jacob Darwin|title=Science in the early twentieth century : an encyclopedia|date=2005|publisher=ABC-CLIO|location=Santa Barbara, Calif.|isbn=978-1851096657|page=400|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mpiZRAiE0JwC&pg=PA177 |access-date=13 June 2017|language=en|chapter-format=googlebooks|chapter=I.V. Kurchatov}}</ref>{{rp|117–118}} Despite early and accelerated efforts, it was reported by historians that efforts on building a bomb using weapon-grade uranium seemed hopeless to Russian scientists.<ref name="ABC-CLIO, 2005"/>{{rp|117–118}} Igor Kurchatov had harboured doubts working towards the uranium bomb, but made progress on a bomb using weapon-grade plutonium after British data was provided by the [[NKVD]].<ref name="ABC-CLIO, 2005"/>{{rp|117–118}}

The situation dramatically changed when the Soviet Union learned of the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] in 1945.<ref name="MIT Press, Bukharin">{{cite book|last1=Bukharin|first1=Oleg|last2=Hippel|first2=Frank Von|title=Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces|date=2004|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=978-0262661812|page=695|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CPRVbYDc-7kC&pg=PA1 |access-date=14 June 2017|language=en|chapter-format=googlebooks|chapter=Making the First Nuclear Weapons}}</ref>{{rp|2–5}}

Immediately after the atomic bombing, the [[Soviet Politburo]] took control of the atomic bomb project by establishing a special committee to oversee the development of nuclear weapons as soon as possible.<ref name="MIT Press, Bukharin"/>{{rp|2–5}} On 9 April 1946, the [[Council of Ministers (Soviet Union)|Council of Ministers]] created [[All-Russian Scientific Research Institute of Experimental Physics|KB–11]] ('Design Bureau-11') that worked towards mapping the first [[Fat Man|nuclear weapon design]], primarily based on the American approach and detonated with weapon-grade plutonium.<ref name="MIT Press, Bukharin"/>{{rp|2–5}}

Work on the program was accelerated by constructing a [[F-1 (nuclear reactor)|nuclear research reactor]] near Moscow which went critical for the first time on 25 October 1946.<ref name="MIT Press, Bukharin"/>{{rp|2–5}} Even while this facility was still in the planning stage, a government commission inspected and approved a location east of the Urals for a plutonium production facility similar to the American [[Hanford Site]], with nuclear production reactor much larger in size than the research reactor, combined with a radiochemical extraction factory. Constructed some fifteen miles east of the small town of [[Kyshtym]], this plutonium production complex came to be known as Chelyabinsk-40 and later still, as [[Mayak]].

The area was chosen in part because of its proximity to the [[Chelyabinsk Tractor Plant]] which had merged during the war with the evacuated [[Malyshev Factory|Kharkov Diesel Works]] and parts of the Leningrad [[Kirov Plant]] into a major tank production complex popularly known as "Tankograd". To supply the complex and dozens of other armament works in the area, a huge new power station had gone up in 1942 from which electricity could be drawn. Chelyabinsk province, particularly around the small town of Kyshtym, was also a major [[gulag]] station, with some twelve forced labor camps in the area.<ref name="Dark Sun">{{cite book|last1=Rhodes|first1=Richard|title=Dark Sun. The Making of the Hydrogen Bomb|date=1995|publisher=Simon & Schuster
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