Russian Federation (Alyssa Van Denburg)

Category: Weapons of Mass Destruction

In February 1939, news had reached Soviet physicists of the discovery of nuclear fission in the West. By the end of 1944, 100 scientists were working under Kurchatov, and by the time of the Potsdam Conference, the project on the atomic bomb was seriously under way. The first Soviet chain reaction took place in Moscow on Dec. 25, 1946, using an experimental graphite-moderated natural uranium pile, and the first plutonium production reactor became operational at Kyshtym, in the Ural Mountains, on June 19, 1948. The first Soviet weapon test occurred on Aug. 29, 1949, using plutonium; it had a yield of 10 to 20 kilotons.

Russia declared an arsenal of around 8400 nuclear weapons stockpiled in 2005, making its stockpile the largest in the world.

The Treaty Banning Nuclear Weapons Tests in the Atmosphere, in Outer Space, and Under Water treaty signed in Moscow on Aug. 5, 1963, was signed by the the Soviet Union.

The Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty agreement of July 1, 1968, was also signed by the Soviet Union.