铀-235的生产与苏联核计划

Uranium-235 Production and Soviet Nuclear Program

铀-235是研制核武器的主要核裂变材料,也是生产核聚变材料氚的重要原料。它的生产是苏联核计划中最关键、也是难度最大的环节之一。苏联核计划中铀-235的生产过程可分为理论基础与实验研究、曲折发展、重大突破、工业生产四个阶段。在第三阶段,通过气体扩散法和电磁法生产出了第一颗铀弹РДС-2所需的武器级铀,取得重大突破。РДС-2试爆之后,铀-235进入工业生产阶段。在20世纪50年代中期之前,苏联铀-235的生产仍以气体扩散法为主。因未能彻底改良技术和降低生产成本,导致铀-235的产量根本无法满足苏联批量生产核武器的需求。因此,在50年代中期之后,苏联不仅在西伯利亚地区新建两座工厂,继续扩大生产规模,还逐渐用气体离心法替代气体扩散法。直至今日,苏联核遗产的主要继承者俄罗斯联邦仍因掌握气体离心技术在世界铀浓缩领域独占鳌头。

Uranium-235 is the main nuclear fission material for the development of nuclear weapons,and also an important raw material for the production of nuclear fissile material tritium. Its production was one of the most critical and difficult links in the Soviet nuclear program. The production process of uranium-235 can be divided into four stages: theoretical basis and experimental research,tortuous development,major breakthrough and industrial production. Major breakthrough was made in the third stage,during which gas diffusion method and electromagnetic method respectively cooperated to produce the weapon that the first uranium bomb RDS-2 required. After the blasting test of RDS-2,the production of uranium-235 entered into the industrial stage. Before the mid-1950 s,the focus of this stage was still on the development of gas diffusion technology. Due to the failure to completely improve the technology and reduce production costs,the productivity of uranium-235 could not meet the requirements of mass production of nuclear weapons in the Soviet Union. After the mid-1950 s,the Soviet Union not only built two factories in Siberia to continue to expand the scale of production,but also gradually replaced the gas diffusion method by means of the gas centrifugal method. So far,the Russian Federation,as the main successor of the Soviet nuclear heritage,still gains the first place in the field of enriched uranium because of its centrifugal technology advantage.