U.S.-based experts suspect Russia blast involved nuclear-powered missile

[Eugene]

Source: Reuters

WORLD NEWS AUGUST 9, 2019 / 7:10 PM / UPDATED 4 HOURS AGO

U.S.-based experts suspect Russia blast involved nuclear-powered missile

Jonathan Landay
5 MIN READ

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S.-based nuclear experts said on Friday they suspected an accidental blast and radiation release in northern Russia this week occurred during the testing of a nuclear-powered cruise missile vaunted by President Vladimir Putin last year.

The Russian Ministry of Defense, quoted by state-run news outlets, said that two people died and six were injured on Thursday in an explosion of what it called a liquid propellant rocket engine. No dangerous substances were released, it said. Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom said early on Saturday that five of its staff members died.

A spokeswoman for Severodvinsk, a city of 185,000 near the test site in the Arkhangelsk region, was quoted in a statement on the municipal website as saying that a “short-term” spike in background radiation was recorded at noon Thursday. The statement was not on the site on Friday.

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Two experts said in separate interviews with Reuters that a liquid rocket propellant explosion would not release radiation.

They said that they suspected the explosion and the radiation release resulted from a mishap during the testing of a nuclear-powered cruise missile at a facility outside the village of Nyonoksa.

“Liquid fuel missile engines exploding do not give off radiation, and we know that the Russians are working on some kind of nuclear propulsion for a cruise missile,” said Ankit Panda, an adjunct senior fellow with the Federation of American Scientists.

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Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-blast-usa/u-s-based-experts-suspect-russia-blast-involved-nuclear-powered-missile-idUSKCN1UZ2H5

[muriel_volestrangler]

1. Russian nuclear agency confirms role in rocket test explosion

Russia’s nuclear energy agency has said an explosion that caused radiation levels to spike in the Arkhangelsk region was caused by an accident during a test of an “isotope power source for a liquid-fueled rocket engine”.

In a statement released late on Friday, Rosatom said five of its employees had died as a result of the accident and three more were being treated for burns.

The statement was the first confirmation that the agency was involved in the incident, which briefly drove radiation levels up to 20 times their normal levels in the nearby city of Severodvinsk.

Rosatom’s description of the incident could indicate it was testing the nuclear-powered cruise missile Burevestnik mentioned during a speech by Vladimir Putin last year.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/10/russian-nuclear-agency-confirms-role-in-rocket-test-explosion