A deadly explosion at a naval weapons testing range in Russia leaves unanswered questions. There was a brief spike in radiation levels. Then an evacuation order was issued, then rescinded, for a nearby village. Here's what's known and unknown.
In this photo taken on Oct. 7, 2018, people walk the street with the 18th century Trinity Church in the background in the village of Nyonoksa, northwestern Russia. The Aug. 8, 2019, explosion of a rocket engine at the Russian navy's testing range just outside Nyonoksa led to a brief spike in radiation levels and raised new questions about prospective Russian weapons.
They included anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles of various types, as well as intercontinental ballistic missiles intended for the nation’s nuclear submarines. Two days later, Russia’s state-controlled nuclear agency Rosatom acknowledged that the explosion occurred on an offshore platform during tests of a “nuclear isotope power source,” and that it killed five nuclear engineers and injured three others. It’s still not clear whether those casualties were in addition to the earlier dead and injured.
A later report from Russia’s state weather and environmental monitoring agency said the peak radiation reading in Severodvinsk on Aug. 8 was 1.78 microsieverts per hour in just one neighborhood — about 16 times the average. Peak readings in other parts of Severodvinsk varied between 0.45 and 1.33 microsieverts per hour. It said that radiation levels fell back to normal after 2½ hours.
Arkhangelsk region Gov. Igor Orlov said, “There is no evacuation,” and he claimed that some reports about the incident sought to sow panic.Neither the Defense Ministry nor Rosatom identified the type of weapon that exploded during the test.
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