Tsar Bomba C), north of the Arctic Circle over the Novaya Zemlya archipelago in the Arctic Ocean. The bomb was dropped from an altitude of ; it was designed to detonate at a height of over the land surface ( above sea level) by barometric sensors. The original, November 1961, United States Atomic Energy Commission estimate of the yield was 55–60 megatons, but since 1992, all Russian sources have stated its yield as 58.6 megatons. First secretary Khrushchev warned in a filmed speech to the Supreme Soviet of the existence of a 100-megaton bomb (technically the design was capable of this yield.)
12th Chief Directorate Another task of the 12th GU MO is to prevent so-called "nuclear terrorism," but this is a relatively modern task, which did not exist formerly. Besides these nuclear arsenal bases, the 12th Chief Directorate maintains several nuclear weapons research institutes in Moscow and in Sergiev Posad, near Moscow, with their subsidiaries located at nuclear testing grounds in Semipalatinsk-21 and on Novaya Zemlya Archipelago, and in several other cities (Saint Petersburg, for example). It also maintains a separate research institute tasked with developing nuclear explosions detection technology. Another function of the 12th GU MO is to serve as a link between