Secret Cities
During the Cold War the Soviet Union created at least ten closed cities, known as Atomgrads, in which nuclear weapons-related research and development took place. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, all of the cities changed their names (most of the original code-names were simply the oblast and a number). All are still legally "closed", though some have parts of them accessible to foreign visitors with special permits (Sarov, Snezhinsk, and Zheleznogorsk).
| Cold War name | Current name | Established | Primary function(s) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arzamas-16 | Sarov | 1946 | Weapons design and research, warhead assembly |
| Sverdlovsk-44 | Novouralsk | 1946 | Uranium enrichment |
| Chelyabinsk-40 and later 65 | Ozyorsk | 1947 | Plutonium production, component manufacturing |
| Sverdlovsk-45 | Lesnoy | 1947 | Uranium enrichment, warhead assembly |
| Tomsk-7 | Seversk | 1949 | Uranium enrichment, component manufacturing |
| Krasnoyarsk-26 | Zheleznogorsk | 1950 | Plutonium production |
| Zlatoust-36 | Tryokhgorny | 1952 | Warhead assembly |
| Penza-19 | Zarechny | 1955 | Warhead assembly |
| Krasnoyarsk-45 | Zelenogorsk | 1956 | Uranium enrichment |
| Chelyabinsk-70 | Snezhinsk | 1957 | Weapons design and research |
Read more about this topic: Soviet Atomic Bomb Project
Famous quotes containing the words secret and/or cities:
“No one can keep a secret better than a child.”
—Victor Hugo (1802–1885)
“In bombers named for girls, we burned
The cities we had learned about in school—
Till our lives wore out; our bodies lay among
The people we had killed and never seen.”
—Randall Jarrell (1914–1965)