Lab-to-lab cooperation brought together people who were curious about one another and eager to learn and share.
Their personal and professional accounts recall scientific visits, travel, community exchanges, and efforts to reduce nuclear dangers—from nuclear safety and export controls to environmental cleanup. Poems, ballads, and humorous anecdotes reflect the friendships and everyday experiences that accompanied this work.
The emotional imprint of these interactions would be expressed in many creative ways, and a few of them are captured in this section. From downright funny to poignant and reflective, these “remarks on the margins of the collaboration” tell us about the feelings and thoughts of the lab-to-lab participants.
Personal accounts
The Human Dimension to Kazakhstan’s Plutonium Mountain
Hecker recalls the relationships and visits that helped enable US–Russian–Kazakh cooperation to secure nuclear materials at Semipalatinsk.
Cooperation in a Closed Nuclear City
A personal account of nuclear risk reduction, the Nuclear Cities Initiative, and efforts to create civilian opportunities in Sarov.
Not by Bread Alone: Notes on the Margins of Collaboration
Short accounts of music, hospitality, recreation, and informal encounters alongside the laboratories’ technical work.
Second Chances
An encounter with schoolchildren during the 1993 Snezhinsk symposium becomes a story of friendship and later reconnection.
American Poems in Sarov
The Sarov English Club, Brodie Anderson’s poems, and Irv Lindemuth’s recollections of the friendships surrounding scientific cooperation.
Memories of Visits to Russia and the Former Soviet Union
Personal recollections of travel, scientific work, and encounters in Russia and other former Soviet republics.
Recollections of Nuclear Cooperation
Levenson recalls exchanges of non-weapons nuclear information with Soviet and Russian scientists, including questions of reactor safety.
Averting a Baltic Sea Disaster
Rofer recounts international efforts to investigate and contain the radioactive waste depository at Sillamäe, Estonia.
Lab-to-Lab cooperation between Russia and U.S. on nuclear export controls
Novikov describes the development of Russia’s nuclear export-control system and the role of cooperation with American laboratories.
The Beginnings of the American Lab-to-Lab Export Control Interactions
Lundy recalls early American laboratory efforts to build nuclear export-control cooperation with Soviet and Russian counterparts.
Poetry & ballads
Here and There, Now and Then
A visitor reflects on the surprising familiarity of Sarov’s landscape, people, and everyday life.
Winter in Sarov
An affectionate portrait of winter streets, children, food, recreation, and daily life in Sarov.
The Special Thing
A poem of gratitude to Russian friends, valuing personal warmth and connection above the gifts exchanged.
Poems of Sarov and Los Alamos
“Why Are We Here?” and “An Unfinished Poem of Sarov and Los Alamos”: two poems reflecting on community exchanges and friendship between the two cities.
Ballads from Lab-to-Lab Visits
“Three Labs in a Lift” and “Ballad of the Arzamas Train”: humorous verse about an elevator incident in Snezhinsk and an overnight train journey to Arzamas-16.
The Walking Stick
A poem about visits to Sarov, friendships across the seasons, and the difficulty of saying goodbye.
Humor
Humor and Personal Recollections
Sviridov’s “Humorous Asides” and Mann’s “A Personal Perspective on the Years of Russian Collaborations”: anecdotes about visits, project reviews, travel, and banquet toasts.
The Curious Incident of the Dosimeter in the Day-Time
An unexpected radiation reading during a Sarov symposium prompts a joint investigation by American visitors and their Russian hosts.