3 ms·
True, but I would note the Soviets chose to do things like put nuclear reactors and Pu production complexes underground to protect them from American air strike
by aerostable_slug 1y ago
True, but I would note the Soviets chose to do things like put nuclear reactors and Pu production complexes underground to protect them from American air strikes. The sheer scale of their efforts and the added requirements for things like undergrounding entire plants certainly pushed their spending sky-high.
- philipkglass 1y agoYes, both countries' nuclear weapons programs were extraordinarily expensive over time. The first underground reactor of the Mining and Chemical Combine was built in 1958, well after the USSR had started stockpiling fission and fusion weapons. The original Mayak production complex had ordinary above-ground reactors. I believe that the the "AD", "ADE-1", and "ADE-2" reactors here are the only underground ones: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_atomic_bomb_project#Plutonium_production https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet_atomic_bomb_project#Plu...