Sarov is a closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia.
It was known as Arzamas-16 from 1946-1991. Until 1995, it was
known as Kremlyov. The town is closed as it is the Russian center
for nuclear research. Population: 92,047 (2010 Census).

The history of the town can be divided into two different periods.
In the earlier history of Russia it was known as one of the holy
places of the Russian Orthodox Church, because of its monastery,
that gave Russia one of its greatest saints, St. Seraphim. Since
the 1940s, it has gradually become the center for research and
production of Soviet and later Russian nuclear weapons.

The history of human settlement in the area around Sarov goes back
at least to the 12th€“13th centuries, when a large Mordvin settlement
was founded on its spot. In 1298, the town was taken over by Tatars.

The modern town took its name from being the site of the Sarov
Monastery next to the Sarov River. In 1664, an Orthodox monk
Theodosius first settled on the Sarov hill. The first Church of
Sarov tenement was founded in 1706. Saint Seraphim was living in
Sarov from 1778-1833. In 1903, the monastery was visited by Tsar
Nicholas II and other members of the royal family. At that time
the monastery had nine churches, including one underground.
Around 320 monks lived in the monastery.

In 1923 the monastery was closed, the monks faced Bolshevik
repressions, and many were executed. During WWII, the monastery
buildings were used as factories for producing rockets for
BM-13 "Katyusha" rocket launchers.

In 1946, the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of
Experimental Physics€”a nuclear weapons design facility that would
become known in the West under the acronym VNIIEF€”was built. Sarov
became a closed city. It was removed from all unclassified maps.
Initial provisional names included Base 112, Site 550, Yasnogorsk,
Kremlyev and Arzamas-75. Sarov was known as Arzamas-16 until 1995.

The town is home to the Russian Federation Nuclear Center and
"Atomic Bomb" museum which has a number of casings of Soviet-era
nuclear weapons & photos of those involved in their production.
The main access is by train, which, after a security stop and
inspection, is allowed into the town to disembark passengers.
The small Sarov Airport is generally for government aircraft only,
and visitors usually fly to Nizhny Novgorod airport and then drive.

The town is surrounded by fences patrolled by the military.
Foreigners, and even Russians who do not live in Sarov, are not
allowed to enter the town without permission. Foreigners who visit
on business must surrender their passports, phones, and cameras
to security while they are in the facility, though some documentary
filmmakers have shot footage inside the town walls.

In 1993, the town became a sister city to Los Alamos, NM, the home
of the U.S. nuclear weapons design lab (Los Alamos National Lab,
or LANL). Scientists from LANL & VNIIEF have cooperated on various
arms control and nuclear safeguards programs, under which the
Los Alamos scientists learned, to their amusement, that their
Russian colleagues paid homage to their American rivals by
irreverently calling their own lab "Los Arzamas."[citation needed]

Boris Yeltsin changed the town's name back to Sarov at the
request of the residents in August 1995.

On June 17, 1997, a Russian Federal Nuclear Center senior
researcher Alexandr Zakharov received a fatal dose of 4850 rem
in a criticality accident.

During the 2010 Russian wildfires the Russian Army took preventive
forest fire measures and radioactive material was reported to
have been secured elsewhere.

Today the Russian federal nuclear center is responsible for
important decisions concerning the development, production, storage,
and utilization of nuclear weapons; the recycling of radioactive
and other materials; and research in fundamental and applied physics. International foundations have helped to fund some research
scientists in Sarov following the downsizing and transitions after
the Soviet era. The city's fences and the electrifed fences around
fissile stores are maintained. In 1998 a resident stated that the
perimeter fences also kept the city free from organized crime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarov

OK No need for a guide book now then.
grin.
Why do you post these here?
Brian

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"David P" wrote in message
...
Sarov is a closed town in Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russia.
It was known as Arzamas-16 from 1946-1991. Until 1995, it was
known as Kremlyov. The town is closed as it is the Russian center
for nuclear research. Population: 92,047 (2010 Census).

The history of the town can be divided into two different periods.
In the earlier history of Russia it was known as one of the holy
places of the Russian Orthodox Church, because of its monastery,
that gave Russia one of its greatest saints, St. Seraphim. Since
the 1940s, it has gradually become the center for research and
production of Soviet and later Russian nuclear weapons.

The history of human settlement in the area around Sarov goes back
at least to the 12th-13th centuries, when a large Mordvin settlement
was founded on its spot. In 1298, the town was taken over by Tatars.

The modern town took its name from being the site of the Sarov
Monastery next to the Sarov River. In 1664, an Orthodox monk
Theodosius first settled on the Sarov hill. The first Church of
Sarov tenement was founded in 1706. Saint Seraphim was living in
Sarov from 1778-1833. In 1903, the monastery was visited by Tsar
Nicholas II and other members of the royal family. At that time
the monastery had nine churches, including one underground.
Around 320 monks lived in the monastery.

In 1923 the monastery was closed, the monks faced Bolshevik
repressions, and many were executed. During WWII, the monastery
buildings were used as factories for producing rockets for
BM-13 "Katyusha" rocket launchers.

In 1946, the All-Union Scientific Research Institute of
Experimental Physics-a nuclear weapons design facility that would
become known in the West under the acronym VNIIEF-was built. Sarov
became a closed city. It was removed from all unclassified maps.
Initial provisional names included Base 112, Site 550, Yasnogorsk,
Kremlyev and Arzamas-75. Sarov was known as Arzamas-16 until 1995.

The town is home to the Russian Federation Nuclear Center and
"Atomic Bomb" museum which has a number of casings of Soviet-era
nuclear weapons & photos of those involved in their production.
The main access is by train, which, after a security stop and
inspection, is allowed into the town to disembark passengers.
The small Sarov Airport is generally for government aircraft only,
and visitors usually fly to Nizhny Novgorod airport and then drive.

The town is surrounded by fences patrolled by the military.
Foreigners, and even Russians who do not live in Sarov, are not
allowed to enter the town without permission. Foreigners who visit
on business must surrender their passports, phones, and cameras
to security while they are in the facility, though some documentary
filmmakers have shot footage inside the town walls.

In 1993, the town became a sister city to Los Alamos, NM, the home
of the U.S. nuclear weapons design lab (Los Alamos National Lab,
or LANL). Scientists from LANL & VNIIEF have cooperated on various
arms control and nuclear safeguards programs, under which the
Los Alamos scientists learned, to their amusement, that their
Russian colleagues paid homage to their American rivals by
irreverently calling their own lab "Los Arzamas."[citation needed]

Boris Yeltsin changed the town's name back to Sarov at the
request of the residents in August 1995.

On June 17, 1997, a Russian Federal Nuclear Center senior
researcher Alexandr Zakharov received a fatal dose of 4850 rem
in a criticality accident.

During the 2010 Russian wildfires the Russian Army took preventive
forest fire measures and radioactive material was reported to
have been secured elsewhere.

Today the Russian federal nuclear center is responsible for
important decisions concerning the development, production, storage,
and utilization of nuclear weapons; the recycling of radioactive
and other materials; and research in fundamental and applied physics.
International foundations have helped to fund some research
scientists in Sarov following the downsizing and transitions after
the Soviet era. The city's fences and the electrifed fences around
fissile stores are maintained. In 1998 a resident stated that the
perimeter fences also kept the city free from organized crime.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarov

I've killfiled him but you and others keep replying. Grr.

Andrew

On 17/08/2019 18:27, Brian Gaff wrote:
OK No need for a guide book now then.
grin.
Why do you post these here?
Brian