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(Accidental) Explosion at military base in North-West Russia (yes, a second one this week)

Shodan14

Shodan14

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,410
So this happened yesterday, but there was no thread for it that I could find. This comes after a huge explosion and fire at an ammo dump in Siberia on Tuesday.

From BBC:
A rocket engine explosion on a naval test range in northern Russia has killed two people and injured six, the defence ministry told Russian media.

The victims of the explosion in Arkhangelsk region were civilian specialists while military and civilian personnel are among the injured.

The ministry said radiation levels were normal but the city of Severodvinsk registered a "brief spike" in levels.

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There's been quite a lot of confusion and speculation about this radiation spike. There's a a summary on the link above. Some people also saw a convoy of ambulances with special hermetic protection going to a bioradiology center in Moscow.
 
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BigWinnie1

BigWinnie1

Banned
Feb 19, 2018
2,757
Shodan14 said:
So this happened yesterday, but there was no thread for it that I could find. This comes after a huge explosion and fire at an ammo dump in Siberia on Tuesday.

From BBC:


There's been quite a lot of confusion and speculation about this radiation spike. There's a a summary on the link above. Some people also saw a convoy of ambulances with special hermetic protection going to a bioradiology center in Moscow.
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So is it Chernobyl part 2: electric boogaloo ?
 
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Shodan14

Shodan14

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Oct 30, 2017
9,410
BigWinnie1 said:
So is it Chernobyl part 2: electric boogaloo ?
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In terms of disclosure and informing the public, pretty much. In terms of radiation, probably not. Detectors in Finland and beyond would have picked up anything dangerous at that distance.

It will be interesting to find out what the heck it actually was though. Reminds me of the "demon core" incidents in the US.
 
Steel

Steel

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
18,220
Maybe they're testing a new nuclear weapon? But that's not really hide-able even if they do underground tests.
 
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Shodan14

Shodan14

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Oct 30, 2017
9,410
Steel said:
Maybe they're testing a new nuclear weapon? But that's not really hide-able even if they do underground tests.
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There would be seismograph readings to confirm that pretty easily (for a real underground nuclear test). Unfortunately I don't know enough about nuclear stuff to know what would give off a minutes-length pulse.
 
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Shodan14

Shodan14

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Oct 30, 2017
9,410
There's some speculation on reddit that it had something to do with Russia's newest nuclear cruise missile. It has a nuclear engine and that base is known for testing new missiles (among other things) for the Russian fleet.
 
cameron

cameron

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Oct 26, 2017
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Disco

Disco

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Oct 25, 2017
11,439
Nothing to be alarmed about. Everybody chill. Only 3.6 roentgen reading on the meters
 
cameron

cameron

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Oct 26, 2017
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The New York Times @nytimes

Russian authorities have admitted that a mystery explosion at a weapons testing range involved radioactive materials https://nyti.ms/2yOqlJe

11:15 AM - Aug 10, 2019


MOSCOW — A mystery explosion at a Russian weapons testing range involved radioactive materials, the authorities admitted on Saturday, as the blast's admitted death toll rose and signs of a creeping radiation emergency, or at the least fear of one, grew harder to mask.​
​
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."​
​
"A bright memory of our comrades will forever live in our hearts," the statement said.​
​
The statement, though, shed little light on exactly what detonated on Thursday at the White Sea testing range. No use for the propulsion unit was mentioned, although President Vladimir V. Putin previously boasted that Russia has developed a nuclear engine for long-range missiles. And there was no explanation why the authorities in a nearby city had reported rising radiation levels for a brief period several hours later.​
 
Gernau Morat Gurgeh

Gernau Morat Gurgeh

Member
Oct 31, 2017
10,028
So are they building nuclear thermal rockets? Would be interesting from the space exploration aspect, as its a technology that's been around for 50 odd years and has huge potential. The Americans built their own working versions back in the day, although they were never flown.
 

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cameron said:


The New York Times @nytimes

Russian authorities have admitted that a mystery explosion at a weapons testing range involved radioactive materials https://nyti.ms/2yOqlJe

11:15 AM - Aug 10, 2019


MOSCOW — A mystery explosion at a Russian weapons testing range involved radioactive materials, the authorities admitted on Saturday, as the blast's admitted death toll rose and signs of a creeping radiation emergency, or at the least fear of one, grew harder to mask.​
​
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."​
​
"A bright memory of our comrades will forever live in our hearts," the statement said.​
​
The statement, though, shed little light on exactly what detonated on Thursday at the White Sea testing range. No use for the propulsion unit was mentioned, although President Vladimir V. Putin previously boasted that Russia has developed a nuclear engine for long-range missiles. And there was no explanation why the authorities in a nearby city had reported rising radiation levels for a brief period several hours later.​
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By bright memory in our hearts do they mean radiation poisoning?

 
low-G

low-G

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,144
I thought that maybe the news of nuclear cruise missile test gone wrong was actually at that explosion that had the footage, but nope. Apparently Russian military just likes blowing themselves up!

This is what happens when Putin just says 'start testing things' to people unqualified to start testing things.
 
sweetmini

sweetmini

Member
Jun 12, 2019
3,921
Gernau Morat Gurgeh said:
So are they building nuclear thermal rockets? Would be interesting from the space exploration aspect, as its a technology that's been around for 50 odd years and has huge potential. The Americans built their own working versions back in the day, although they were never flown.
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Yes they are, president Putin announced a large range of new weapons a couple years back. Among them nuclear powered ICBM with dodge navigation capabilities to counter the actual antimissile tech and a new very high speed torpedoes.
The video of the whole summit was on YouTube, it s from 2017 I think. There s a dub version.

Well, at least that seems to confirm the nuclear powered ICBM was not a complete fluke. It s normal to have setbacks, these are complicated machines. Deadly setbacks nonetheless and very sad outcome.
I hope they managed to secure the radioactive source and the most dangerous contaminated materials. (I read there was a retrieval vessel in an russian waters exclusion zone that s working since the incident)
 
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Shodan14

Shodan14

Banned
Oct 30, 2017
9,410
cameron said:


The New York Times @nytimes

Russian authorities have admitted that a mystery explosion at a weapons testing range involved radioactive materials https://nyti.ms/2yOqlJe

11:15 AM - Aug 10, 2019


MOSCOW — A mystery explosion at a Russian weapons testing range involved radioactive materials, the authorities admitted on Saturday, as the blast's admitted death toll rose and signs of a creeping radiation emergency, or at the least fear of one, grew harder to mask.​
​
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."​
​
"A bright memory of our comrades will forever live in our hearts," the statement said.​
​
The statement, though, shed little light on exactly what detonated on Thursday at the White Sea testing range. No use for the propulsion unit was mentioned, although President Vladimir V. Putin previously boasted that Russia has developed a nuclear engine for long-range missiles. And there was no explanation why the authorities in a nearby city had reported rising radiation levels for a brief period several hours later.​
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That's an.. interesting choice of words.

At this rate, we'll get the whole story by the end of the month.

Gernau Morat Gurgeh said:
So are they building nuclear thermal rockets? Would be interesting from the space exploration aspect, as its a technology that's been around for 50 odd years and has huge potential. The Americans built their own working versions back in the day, although they were never flown.
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The reason they aren't flown is the nuclear exhaust and potential consequences for a failed launch. Assembling and using them in space is fine.
 
Gernau Morat Gurgeh

Gernau Morat Gurgeh

Member
Oct 31, 2017
10,028
[QUOTE="Shodan14, post: 23495984, member: 26601]
The reason they aren't flown is the nuclear exhaust and potential consequences for a failed launch. Assembling and using them in space is fine.
[/QUOTE]

Oh absolutely! Although that pales in comparison to using something like Orion, which would have involved riding a stream of several hundred fission bombs to orbit
 
NSA

NSA

Avenger
Oct 27, 2017
3,892
I appreciate the updates, and laugh how an actual bad thing gets so few posts here.
 
Steel

Steel

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Oct 25, 2017
18,220
Really weird. Yeah, the only thing I can see this being is the nuclear thermal rocket idea. If it's using weapon's grade uranium for the propulision and not the low density uranium used in reactors nowadays, it could be pretty bad.

NSA said:
I appreciate the updates, and laugh how an actual bad thing gets so few posts here.
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I mean, this is fucked up, but the last two mass shootings in the U.S. will probably end up with more casualties.
 
Christian

Christian

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Oct 25, 2017
9,636
It's really actually kind of fascinating how so much of humanity refuses to actually learn any lessons from history. We really deserve whatever awful end that's coming for us.
 
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Shodan14

Shodan14

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Oct 30, 2017
9,410
Christian said:
It's really actually kind of fascinating how so much of humanity refuses to actually learn any lessons from history. We really deserve whatever awful end that's coming for us.
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What is this even?

This has nothing to do with learning from history (beyond communication) and everything to do with using proper safety procedures.
 
Christian

Christian

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Oct 25, 2017
9,636
Shodan14 said:
And what do you think we should have learned from history?
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To be more careful with how nuclear energy is handled? To not possibly have multiple accidents in the span of a week that could result in civilians being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation, and having to evacuate them? When it happens, to not attempt damage control to protect your international image but to move swiftly and warn everyone that could be affected?
 
Steel

Steel

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Oct 25, 2017
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Christian said:
To be more careful with how nuclear energy is handled? To not possibly have multiple accidents in the span of a week that could result in civilians being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation, and having to evacuate them? When it happens, to not attempt damage control to protect your international image but to move swiftly and warn everyone that could be affected?
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This isn't nuclear energy, it's a weapon. The other accident wasn't nuclear or even in the same place, it was an ammo stockpile explosion.
 
Christian

Christian

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Oct 25, 2017
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Steel said:
This isn't nuclear energy, it's a weapon. The other accident wasn't nuclear or even in the same place, it was an ammo stockpile explosion.
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A weapon utilizing nuclear technology, yes? I didn't know about the second incident, so I apologize if my gross generalization offended anyone.
 
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Shodan14

Shodan14

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Oct 30, 2017
9,410
Christian said:
To be more careful with how nuclear energy is handled? To not possibly have multiple accidents in the span of a week that could result in civilians being exposed to dangerous levels of radiation, and having to evacuate them? When it happens, to not attempt damage control to protect your international image but to move swiftly and warn everyone that could be affected?
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Well, yeah, you're right about that.
Typhon said:
I'd say that finding new and more horrible ways to murder each other is not the way forward for our species.
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This isn't exactly 100% relevant to this specific case, but nuclear weapons have done more to stabilize great power relations since the end of WW2 than anything else. They are pretty much the perfect defensive weapon in practice.
 
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