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Russia explosion: Five confirmed dead in rocket blast
Five people were killed and three injured following a rocket explosion on an Arctic naval test range in Russia on Thursday, state nuclear company Rosatom confirmed. Rosatom said the accident occurred during tests on a liquid propellant rocket engine. The three injured staff members suffered serious burns in the accident. Authorities had previously said that two people died and six were injured in the blast at the site in Nyonoksa.
The company told Russian media that its engineering and technical team had been working on the "isotope power source" for the propulsion system. The Nyonoksa site carries out tests for virtually every missile system used by the Russian navy, including sea-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and anti-aircraft missiles.
Authorities in Severodvinsk, 47km (29 miles) east of Nyonoksa said that radiation levels shortly after the blast were higher than normal for about 40 minutes but returned to normal. Locals have rushed to buy medical iodine, with pharmacies' stocks of iodine reported to be running out in the cities of Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk. The rush for iodine was reported earlier by a news website for the Arkhangelsk region, 29.ru.
Also at The Guardian, NBC, and CNN.
See also: U.S.-Based Experts Suspect Russia Blast Involved Nuclear-Powered Missile
Update: Russia Confirms Radioactive Materials Were Involved in Deadly Blast
In a statement released at 1 a.m. Saturday, Russia's nuclear energy company, Rosatom, said five employees had died, in addition to the two military personnel previously confirmed dead, as a result of a test on Thursday morning involving "isotopic sources of fuel on a liquid propulsion unit."
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @09:08PM (6 children)
North Korea is probably the only country with working nuclear bombs. When is the last time the US, Russia, China, etc even tested one of theirs?
(Score: 1) by barbara hudson on Saturday August 10 2019, @09:32PM (5 children)
SoylentNews is social media. Says so right in the slogan. Soylentnews is people, not tech.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 10 2019, @10:54PM (4 children)
This was a nuclear propulsion system, it wasn't meant to explode.
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday August 10 2019, @11:43PM (2 children)
I'm no nucular physicist, but I have a hard time believing it was a propulsion system. Maybe it was a light-yield nuke or a long-term power source for the electronics? Guess it's plausible that a small controlled nucular detonation could be an efficient powerplant.
(Score: 4, Informative) by deimtee on Sunday August 11 2019, @08:51AM
Maybe some variation on NERVA. That had an Isp of about 1200 using liquid H2, and would have been good enough for an SSTO (Single Stage To Orbit). Seems like that would be good enough for a SSTI (Single Stage To Impact).
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 2) by Fluffeh on Wednesday August 14 2019, @12:45AM
See this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nm24PtuhEg4 [youtube.com]
Explains how it actually IS a propulsion system.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Sunday August 11 2019, @01:45AM
For certain definitions of "not meant to explode", maybe.
The US had nuclear powered SCRAM jets long ago. Get the craft moving fast by conventional means, then light off the nuclear engine, and it goes god-awful fast. The problem was, they couldn't turn it off and land the jet. Secondary problem would probably have been, if the jet landed it would be far to radioactive to work on. Forget about the wikipedia entry - we DID fly one, and crashed it into the sea because we couldn't recover it.
So, if the Russians are using liquid fuel rockets to get this thing airborne, then switch to the nuclear engine, they're just going to drive that warhead directly to the target, then detonate. There won't be any separation or anything. Your engine becomes part of the explosion, guaranteed. Maybe they force the engine to go critical on purpose, to increase the yield? Maybe they even use the engine to trigger the warhead? Hell, I dunno, but the US abandoned nuclear powered jets long ago. I suppose we could start research again to be "competitive".