Coordinates: 52°38.54′N 52°48.55′E / 52.64233°N 52.80917°E / 52.64233; 52.80917

Nuclear bombing test during the 1954 military exercises on Totskoye range

Georgy Zhukov (then Deputy Defence Minister) and Vyacheslav Malyshev (then Minister of Medium Machinebuilding) during the exercises on Totskoye range

Totskoye is a military range established in September 1941 to the north of Totskoye village, about 40 km from Buzuluk in Orenburg Oblast, Russia (in Southern Urals) under the jurisdiction of the South Urals Military District

[edit] History

In 1954, nuclear bombing tests were performed in Totskoye range during the training exercise Snezhok (Snowball) with some 45,000 people, Soviet soldiers and prisoners^[1], who were exposed to radiation from a bomb twice as powerful as the one dropped on Hiroshima nine years earlier. The exercise was commended by the Marshal of the Soviet Union, George Zhukov. At 9:33 a.m. on 14 September 1954, a Soviet Tu-4 bomber dropped a 40 kiloton atomic weapon from 8,000 m (25,000 feet). The bomb exploded 350 m (1,200 feet) above Totskoye range 13 km from Totskoye.

The experiment was similar to others performed at the time by USA, UK and other atomic countries,^[2][3] and was designed to test the performance of military hardware and soldiers in the event of a nuclear war. It involved the 270th Rifle Division,^[4] 320 planes, 600 tanks and 600 armoured personnel carriers. Deputy Defence Minister Georgy Zhukov witnessed the blast from an underground nuclear bunker. Five minutes after the blast, the planes were ordered to bomb the explosion site, and three hours later (after the demarcation of the radioactive zone) the armoured vehicles were ordered to practice the taking of a hostile area after a nuclear attack.^[5]

The local population was never warned and therefore never evacuated as they themselves were part of the experiment. After the explosion the people were even encouraged to utilize the wood of the trees that fell because of the explosion.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Consequences

Thousands are believed to have died as a result of radiation, both immediately and in the years following. The pilot flying the Tu-4 developed leukemia and his co-pilot developed bone cancer. There are no official figures showing how many of the 45,000 men sent to the range died as a result of the test. People exposed to radiation during tests were denied medical care, their military records were falsified to show different serving places and the test remained secret.^[6] The sick people who sought help in local hospitals later were surprised to find out that their medical cards, containing their histories of sickness, had disappeared from the hopitals.^{[citation needed]}

Tamara Zlotnikova, a former member of the Russian Duma, is helping survivors fight for compensation. She believes that the toll from the test was enormous. A study carried out by the health ministry on cities with the worst health problems puts Orenburg second out of 88. Even today, the incidence of some cancers in Orenburg, a city 130 miles from the range, is double that of the people who suffered in Chernobyl.[1][2] However, there may be other factors such as high pollution levels in the Ural River which contributed to the health problems in Orenburg.

Over half a century later this matter is still under strict supervision of the federal government. The local law enforcement personnel continue to harass the journalists who try to obtain footage from the range. The exercise became widely known only in 1993. Even the soldiers who participated in the exercise did not know what they were part of as they were told that there would be an imitation of the nuclear explosion. The local population was never examined for medical issues, although numerous pathologies have been recorded since then.^{[citation needed]} The government congratulated the local population for their heroism in providing the nuclear shield for their Motherland.

[edit] References

• "Nuclear Testing in the USSR. Volume 2. Soviet Nuclear Testing Technologies. Environmental Effects. Safety Provisions. Nuclear Test Sites", Begell-House, Inc., New York, 1998

• A.A. Romanyukha, E.A. Ignatiev, D.V. Ivanov and A.G. Vasilyev , "The Distance Effect on the Individual Exposures Evaluated from the Soviet Nuclear Bomb Test in 1954 at Totskoye Test Site in 1954", Radiation Protection Dosimetry 86:53-58 (1999) online abstract
• Тоцкое войсковое учение (Totskoye Military Exercise), a book (Russian)