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An unearthly spectacle – The untold story of the biggest nuclear bomb (2021)

The secret history of the world’s largest nuclear detonation is coming to light after 60 years. The United States dismissed the gigantic Tsar Bomba as a stunt, but behind the scenes was working to build a “superbomb” of its own.

Shortly after Khrushchev first brought up the possibility of a 100-megaton test, Lt. General Austin Betts, the Deputy Director of Military Applications at the AEC, asked Los Alamos and Livermore to come up with estimates of what it would take to make an American weapon with a yield of 100 megatons. One would hope so—though it has been speculated that the Russian Poseidon nuclear-powered drone-torpedo might carry some kind of “very high-yield” charge (reminiscent of a proposal Sakharov made after the successful Tsar Bomba test) as part of its attempt to maintain a credible (and terrifying) deterrence against US ballistic missile defenses. As the United States, Russia, and China seem to be engaged in new arms races in several domains, including unusual and new forms of nuclear delivery vehicles, the Tsar Bomba is a potent example of how nationalism, fear, and high-technology can combine in a fashion that is ultimately dangerous, wasteful, and pointless.

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