Russia Releases Footage Of World's Largest Nuclear Explosion In 1961

In 1952, United States detonated the world¡¯s first Hydrogen bomb, and its destructive force was 700 times greater than that of the atomic bomb that destroyed Hiroshima.

In 1961, Russia made the world¡¯s largest hydrogen bomb detonation and it was 3,333 times as destructive as the nuclear bomb used on Hiroshima, Japan. Recently the Russian nuclear energy agency, Rosatom, released a 30-minute, formerly classified documentary video recording world¡¯s largest hydrogen bomb detonation. The device, which was nicknamed Tsar Bomba or Tsar bomb, was set off on October 30, 1961.

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Its explosive force was 50 megatons, or the equivalent of 50 million tonnes of conventional explosives. It was far more powerful than the 15 megaton weapon set off by the United States in 1954 in its largest hydrogen bomb blast.

The video shows the blast covered from several angles, each capturing the weapon¡¯s giant mushroom cloud, hinting at the bomb¡¯s churning power and apocalyptic force.

The device is officially known as RDS-220. Russia has previously released some images and small clips of the explosion but nothing with such lengthy documentation.

The opening caption of the video reads, ¡®Top secret¡¯.

According to The New York Times report, a nuclear historian at the Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken, N.J., Alex Wellerstein, called the release of the footage ¡°a nice addition¡± to the growing body of public information.

According to him, the bomb¡¯s description in the video documentary was much fuller than the public would normally receive, but nonetheless carefully avoided the secret technical details ¡°despite appearing to show the innards.¡±

The shocking footage was released to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Russia's nuclear industry. A large part of the video depicts the country's journey to the top of the nuclear tree.

The weapon weighed massive 27 tonnes and was about eight metres in length. According to reports, in order for it to be dropped, some of the fuel tanks had to be removed from the Tu-95V Soviet bomber just to accommodate it.

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Tsar Bomba was detonated at around 4,000 meters above the ground.

The explosion was so powerful that the bomber that was 75 miles away was hit by the shockwave and the blast itself was visible from 620 miles away.

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The mushroom cloud stretched 42 miles into the air, that made it about seven times higher than Mount Everest, and reports claim it destroyed buildings within 55km (35 miles) of it.

According to some reports, Tsar Bomb was initially supposed to be more powerful than the delivered design but it was scaled down in order to protect the wider population from the explosion.