▲ | aerostable_slug 5 days 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 5 days ago | parent [-] | |
Yes, 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#Plu... |