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Tsar Bomba (AN602)

AN602 "Tsar Bomba"
Aircraft bombSoviet UnionThermonuclear (staged)
Tsar Bomba (AN602)
Photo: User:Croquant with modifications by User:Hex · CC BY-SA 3.0 · background removed
Yield · TNT equivalent50 Mt

Key specs

Design
Thermonuclear (staged)
Type
Aircraft bomb
Weight
27 t
Length
8 m
Diameter
2.1 m
Number built
1

Overview

The most powerful explosive device ever detonated: a Soviet three-stage thermonuclear bomb dropped over Novaya Zemlya on 30 October 1961 with a yield of about 50 Mt. Designed for some 100 Mt, it was tested with lead in place of a uranium tamper, halving the yield and limiting fallout.

The bomb, 8 m long and weighing 27 tonnes, was carried by a specially modified Tu-95V and burst about 4 km above the Sukhoy Nos range. The fireball was some 8 km wide and the mushroom cloud rose to about 67 km. Far too heavy to be a practical weapon, it remained a single demonstration of power in a tense year of the Cold War. Its designers included Andrei Sakharov, Viktor Adamsky, Yuri Babayev, Yuri Smirnov and Yuri Trutnev.

Effect radii: estimates

Calculated for 50 Mt

Fireball, maximum radius
≈ 4.6 km
Initial radiation, 500 rem (5 Sv)
≈ 6.6 km
Blast 5 psi: most buildings collapse
≈ 26 km
Thermal: third-degree burns
≈ 57 km
Blast 1 psi: windows shatter
≈ 81 km

Estimated ground ranges for an air burst at the optimum height over flat, open ground, computed from the yield with standard scaling laws. These are not measurements: real effects depend on the height of burst, terrain, buildings and weather.

Formulas from: Glasstone & Dolan, The Effects of Nuclear Weapons (1977), chapter II; Carey Sublette, Nuclear Weapons FAQ, section 5

Tests and use

DateEventSiteYield
Oct 30, 1961Tsar Bomba testAir drop from a Tu-95V; burst about 4 km above the target.Sukhoy Nos, Novaya Zemlya, USSR50 Mt

Test footage

Archive films hosted on YouTube. Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play; the player then comes from youtube-nocookie.com.

Reuters · youtube.com

Sources

  1. Soviet Nuclear Test Summary, Nuclear Weapon Archive (Carey Sublette)
  2. The Soviet Weapons Program: The Tsar Bomba, Nuclear Weapon Archive (Carey Sublette)
  3. Tsar Bomba, Wikipedia