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posted by janrinok on Saturday August 10 2019, @08:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the apply-twice-a-day-until-the-second-head-and-third-arm-have-gone dept.

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."


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  • (Score: 5, Informative) by driverless on Sunday August 11 2019, @01:22AM (2 children)

    by driverless (4770) on Sunday August 11 2019, @01:22AM (#878613)

    You need to explain that in a bit more detail: KI will only protect the thyroid against I-131. I-131 is a fission product of uranium and plutonium with a very short half-life. So unless you're in close proximity to a recent nuclear detonation, taking KI isn't going to do anything for you. As you say, a Geiger counter is vastly more useful, because it's highly unlikely that the cause of the spike was I-131.

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  • (Score: 2) by The Mighty Buzzard on Sunday August 11 2019, @02:02AM

    That as well but I was mostly thinking it would be better to avoid anything more radioactive than a banana entirely. Simplifies things.

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  • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Monday August 12 2019, @09:25PM

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Monday August 12 2019, @09:25PM (#879382) Journal

    I had understood it will also protect the thyroid against all Iodine radioisotopes. The idea is that all (or near enough) the iodine receptors are taken so the remaining iodine passes out the kidney. Though 131 is the chief one to protect against.

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