Questions tagged [nuclear-weapons]
Questions about the history of nuclear weapons.
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How much did the production of the Tsar Bomba cost to the Soviets?
The Tsar Bomba, also known as the "King of Bombs," was the most powerful nuclear weapon ever detonated. Developed and tested by the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War, this ...
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Why are the Russian Federation's Strategic Rocket Forces and the 12th Chief Directorate separate?
It seems that:
the Strategic Rocket Forces (РВСН РФ) is the branch of the Russian Armed Forces (ВС РФ) tasked with the employment of nuclear weapons.
the 12th Chief Directorate of the Ministry of ...
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Why did the United States drop a uranium bomb instead of a plutonium bomb on Hiroshima?
Why did the United States choose to use an untested uranium-fueled (Little Boy) bomb at Hiroshima instead of a plutonium-fueled (Fat Man) bomb, which had been successfully tested at Trinity? Surely ...
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Is the assertion that the A-bomb deterred Stalin plausible? [closed]
An answer on Quora asserted that if the USA had not dropped the a-bomb on Japan that Stalin would've invaded France and not stopped to meet the rest of the allies in Germany?
Is there any evidence to ...
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What were Russia and the US were planning to do if Ukraine refused to give up their nuclear arsenal?
In 1994, Ukraine famously gave up their nuclear arsenal in exchange for the Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances. But is it known if Russia or the US had any backup plans in case Ukraine stood ...
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What was the ethnic identity of first class sergeant Patrick Joseph Cleary?
Recently, I saw this video concerning two Los Alamos criticality accidents, which took place in 1945 and in 1946. The second accident took place on May 21, 1946. There were eight persons in the room ...
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How did the Soviet Union support the development of their atomic bomb in 1949?
The Manhattan Project cost the United States a reported $2 billion. The Soviet Union managed to come up with an A-bomb four years later, even though their economy was about one third the size of ...
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Was the danger of radiation in the case of nuclear war overestimated during the cold war?
This article tells about signal "Atom" and its intended effect on Moscow metro:
All trains stop, escalators automatically start move downwards.
After 15 min, all hermetic gates on metro ...
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How much did J. Robert Oppenheimer get paid while overseeing the Manhattan Project?
I am curious to determine how much J. Robert Oppenheimer got paid in today's dollars when he was the head of Los Alamos National Laboratory?
Do we have any HR or accounting documents of the Los Alamos ...
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Would Stalin have dropped the nuclear bomb on Germany in 1945, if he had it then? [closed]
In an interview on RT Putin said, "I really doubt that Stalin,
in the Spring of 1945, if he had a nuclear bomb, I doubt that he would have
dropped it on Germany. In 1941 or 1942, when it was a ...
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Did the US really consider demonstrating the atomic bomb to the Japanese by "blowing the top" off of Mt. Fuji?
In reading this Washington Post article titled Five myths about the atomic bomb, it's mentioned:
The decision to use nuclear weapons is usually presented as either/or: either drop the bomb or land on ...
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Why did the Soviet Union take the risk of deploying missiles to Cuba, which precipitated the Cuban Missile Crisis? [closed]
During the Cuban Missile Crisis both sides risked further escalation into a WW3. However, under MAD, Wikipedia says:
By the time of the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, both the United States
and the ...
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Why did the USA ever test nukes on their own soil? [closed]
I've recently read about these atom bomb tests that frequently occurred semi-near Las Vegas, which people flocked to. Even if they didn't understand the risks at the time, isn't it a serious problem ...
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When did the United States ratify the Non-Proliferation Treaty? [closed]
According to Wikipedia the United States are a signatory state of the Non-Proliferation Treaty, which was signed on 1968-07-01 and came into effect on 1970-03-05. But when did the USA ratify it?
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Historically, why did the US station their nuclear weapons in Germany for delivery through German pilots?
Recently, somewhat controversially, Germany considers ordering 45 F-18 fighter jets for replacement of the old Tornado bombers, in order to still have jets capable of delivering US nuclear bombs.
How ...
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