On Thursday night, August 8, 2019, an explosion (Youtube below and here) occurred at Nyonoksa naval rocket/missile test site on the White Sea coast (map below) in extreme northwest Russia. This killed 5 and injuring 6 test site workers (reported so far). The explosion caused an unexplained spike in radiation levels. This in turn caused alarm and then a temporary or permanent evacuation of nearby Nyonoksa village. Both the test site and village are effectively under the control of the Russian Navy (Northern Fleet area).
Pete
(The explosion, first thought to be a military "warehouse" or arms dump going up, turned out to be a nuclear missile motor on a pontoon)
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According to the Russian nuclear agency (Rosatom) the explosion happened on a sea platform/pontoon at Nyonoksa Russian Navy rocket/missile launch facility when a "liquid-propellant engine" was tested. Those killed were allegedly working on "isotope power source”. While Russian authorities refuse to identify the missile engine tested, Russian media and the US suspect that the explosion was a test of the 9M730 Burevestnik(aka “Skyfall”), nuclear propelled, nuclear armed cruise missile. That missile is part of (evidently) a dangerously accelerated development effort due to Putin's March 1, 2018 boast that this missile is a Russian wonder weapon.
Since 1965 the Nyonoksa facility has been the site of many SLBMand SLCMtests including R-27s, R-29s and R-39s.
ALARM AND CONFUSION
There was major initial alarm and confusion in Nyonoksa village (2km from the test site). This was heightened by the Russian Government issuing contradictoryPress Releases on a Little Increase In Background Radiation and then a Major Release (Evacuate Nyonoksa Now).
In mid August 2019 “Russia's state weather service said radiation levels spiked in the Russian city of Severodvinsk, about [47] kilometres west of Nyonoksa, by up to 16 times [greater than average background radiation level] following the explosion.”
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(Map courtesy Moscow Times, Reuters and TASS).
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Severodvinsk and Arkhangelsk
Residents of the naval base/shipyard cities of Severodvinsk and Arkhangelsk were close enough to see the flash and hear the Nyonoksa test site explosion. Confusion continues in those cities regarding how dangerous the radiation is and what to do about it.
“There are reports of panic buying of iodine drops in Severodvinsk [and Arkhangelsk]. Emergency officials reported a spike in background radiation. The White Sea bay where both the shipbuilding port and the regional capital, Arkhangelsk, are located has been ordered closed for swimming and fishing because of the presence of toxic rocket fuel [or, more secretly, radiation].”
“There are reports of panic buying of iodine drops in Severodvinsk [and Arkhangelsk]. Emergency officials reported a spike in background radiation. The White Sea bay where both the shipbuilding port and the regional capital, Arkhangelsk, are located has been ordered closed for swimming and fishing because of the presence of toxic rocket fuel [or, more secretly, radiation].”
Pete