Les Cohn IPP NCI Business Card
The picture was taken in 2004 on one of my trips to Russia. I was working for the Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration and managing a nuclear non-proliferation program called Nuclear Cities Initiative that engaged Russian nuclear weapon scientists with United States companies. This trip was to Sarov, a secret closed-city also known as Arzamas-16. “Closed cities” were involved in nuclear research and development and were completely fenced. Arzamas-16 is located 450 km from Moscow. Sarov was, and still is the primary location where former Soviet, and current Russian nuclear weapons were (and are still) designed and manufactured. In the picture, I am standing with my project team in front of a Russian atom bomb similar to the one the US dropped on Hiroshima. The city is not on any maps.
We traveled by train to the city. When we arrived at the train station the clerks had special tickets for us, since the city was not listed on the schedules. The train was something like a train from the 1930s. When we were half way to the city, at about 2:00 am the train stopped. Our car was disengaged from the rest of the train. It remained with us in it – just sitting there on the track. After about two hours an engine came, connected to our car and took us the rest of the way to Sarov. The city was completely enclosed by two barbed-wire fences with land mines in between the fences. On arrival, we went through two checkpoints where our documents, cameras and phones were confiscated. No one could leave the city – or enter the city without permission. Currently most Russian nuclear weapons are made in Sarov. The hotel
During the time I was there I told Mom that I would be incommunicado (unable to communicate with her, and unable to tell her exactly where I was, and that she wouldn’t even be able to see the city on a map.)
http://www.military-today.com/bases/arzamas_16.htm
https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/soviet-closed-cities
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_city
We traveled by train to the city. When we arrived at the train station the clerks had special tickets for us, since the city was not listed on the schedules. The train was something like a train from the 1930s. When we were half way to the city, at about 2:00 am the train stopped. Our car was disengaged from the rest of the train. It remained with us in it – just sitting there on the track. After about two hours an engine came, connected to our car and took us the rest of the way to Sarov. The city was completely enclosed by two barbed-wire fences with land mines in between the fences. On arrival, we went through two checkpoints where our documents, cameras and phones were confiscated. No one could leave the city – or enter the city without permission. Currently most Russian nuclear weapons are made in Sarov. The hotel
During the time I was there I told Mom that I would be incommunicado (unable to communicate with her, and unable to tell her exactly where I was, and that she wouldn’t even be able to see the city on a map.)
http://www.military-today.com/bases/arzamas_16.htm
https://www.atomicheritage.org/history/soviet-closed-cities
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Closed_city
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