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Documents

August 16, 1968

Directives to the Soviet Delegation at the XII session of the IAEA General Conference

Directives for topics sent to the Soviet Delegation at the XII session of the IAEA General Conference. Points made include the Soviet Union's readiness to enrich Uranium.

November 4, 1945

From the Journal of V.M. Molotov, 'The Reception of the Czechoslovak Ambassador Horak, 4 November 1945 at 2200'

In a meeting with Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs V. M. Molotov, Czechoslovak Ambassador to the Soviet Union Jiri Horak requests that Stalin send greetings to the International Congress of Students to be held in Prague, expresses concerns about the implications of a joint Soviet-Czechoslovak company for developing uranium, and voices his hope that the Volhynia Czechs will be permitted to resettle in Czechoslovakia.

February 1943

Report of Secretariat of Council of People’s Commissars of USSR to V.M. Molotov, 'About the Implementing of Decree No. 2352 cc of State Committee of Defence'

This report, sent from the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR to V.M. Molotov, informs Molotov that the project for Uranium enrichment was prepared by F. Lange and his colleagues by December, 1942. The installation of this project was planned to be produced outside of Ukraine, in a facility in Kasan.

September 28, 1942

Decree No. 2352 cc of Ukrainian State Committee of Defence

This famous, de-classified document officially started the Soviet atomic project aimed at producing the nuclear bomb. The second point of this document orders the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences to establish a plan for the project of Uranium enrichment. F. Lange, a scientist from the Ukraine Institute of Physics and Technology, was appointed as head of this project because he worked previously on theoretical aspects of Uranium enrichment.

February 1941

Conclusion of National Institute of Chemical Studies of Soviet National Committee of Defence on Invention of UIPhT Fellows Which Was Sent to Agency of Military Chemical Defense

In this document, leading Soviet scientists criticize the idea of Kharkov physicists to use Uranium in military goals, because they do not believe it is possible to realize nuclear fission in the current practical conditions faced. The Soviet National Committee of Defence received these skeptical assessments in 1941 and decided not to develop the military nuclear program.

October 1940

Technical Proposal of F. Lange, V. Maslov, and V. Shpinel, 'Fission of Uranium Isotopes by Using Method of Coriolis Acceleration'

Kharkov Institute scientists proposed in this document the concrete steps to build a nuclear weapon. The document demonstrates that Ukrainian physicists understood how to receive weapons grade uranium and elaborated concrete technical proposals to achieve this goal through uranium enrichment in centrifuge.

October 17, 1940

Claim for an Invention from V. Maslov and V. Shpinel, 'About Using of Uranium as an Explosive and Toxic Agent'

In this letter two nuclear scientists from UIPhT described the construction of the nuclear bomb and proposed to start activities in producing of the nuclear arsenal and make these activities secret. Two Ukrainian physicists were first Soviet scientists who revealed the method of producing a nuclear weapon (of course they did not know about the similar inventions of western scientists which were made at the same time under great secrecy).

February 2, 1956

Note Containing an Assessment of the Parameters of a Device with Yields of 150 Megatons and One Billion Tons of TNT

A report on the material requirements and design specifications of nuclear devices with yields of 150MT and one milliard tons TNT between Soviet officials. Specifically, the use of lithium-6 deuteride and natural uranium in varying degrees is discussed.

June 21, 1946

Soviet Council of Ministers Resolution, No. 1286-525, On Development of Soviet Atomic Weapons

Resolution outlining the work of the newly established Design Bureau No.11 (KB-11). Atomic bombs are referred to in the resolution as “jet engines S,” in two versions, S-1 and S-2 (abbreviated as RDS-1 and RDS-2). RDS-1 meant the analog of the first U.S. plutonium-239 implosion type atomic bomb tested on 16 July 1945 in New Mexico RDS-2 signified the analog of the uranium-235 gun type bomb exploded over Hiroshima on 6 August 1945.

April 12, 1948

Protocol No. 61 of a Meeting of the Special Committee under the Council of Ministers of the USSR (Excerpt)

Memorandum of the Special Committee of the CC CPSU postponing the geological prospecting for uranium in North Korea.

Pagination