Russian pharmacies report rise in sales of iodine near military explosion

[Eugene]

Source: The Guardian

Russian pharmacies report rise in sales of iodine near military explosion

Chemists in two northern cities sell more tablets after radiation levels spiked for a short time

Andrew Roth in Moscow
Fri 9 Aug 2019 15.33 BST Last modified on Fri 9 Aug 2019 15.55 BST

Pharmacies in two northern Russia cities have reported increased sales of iodine, a chemical used to limit the effects from radiation exposure, after a mysterious explosion at a military testing site caused radiation levels to spike for a short time.

Russia’s defence ministry said a liquid-fuel rocket engine exploded during testing at a military site on Thursday, killing two and injuring six. Shortly after the explosion, gamma radiation levels in the neighbouring city of Severodvinsk reportedly jumped to 20 times their normal rate for nearly half an hour, contradicting the ministry’s assurances that all levels were normal.

Since the incident, a section of a bay in the White Sea has been closed to civilian shipping and photographs of rescue workers wearing protective gear including respirators have raised concerns about the accident. A statement put on the Severodvinsk city website about the heightened radiation levels has also been deleted, erasing some of the only official confirmation that the incident occurred at all.

Reports on the Arkhangelsk news site 29.ru and the Interfax news agency said that local pharmacies had reported a run on iodine tablets since Thursday, and that locals were concerned about the possibility of exposure.

-snip-

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/09/russian-pharmacies-report-rise-in-sales-of-iodine-near-military-explosion

[FiveGoodMen]

1. Which part of the "liquid fuel" is radioactive?

[CincyDem]

2. The fissile material in the nose cone ??? Hmmm...

[FiveGoodMen]

3. Which was attached during testing?

[CincyDem]

5. Don't know. Maybe in storage in the area?? Only way they're getting radioactivity.

[FiveGoodMen]

9. It just makes me wonder what parts of the story we haven't heard yet.

[Eugene]

11. Two U.S.-based experts suggest it might have been a nuclear-powered cruise missile.

U.S.-based experts suspect Russia blast involved nuclear-powered missile

Two experts said in separate interviews with Reuters that a liquid rocket propellant explosion would not release radiation.

They said that they suspected the explosion and the radiation release resulted from a mishap during the testing of a nuclear-powered cruise missile at a facility outside the village of Nyonoksa.

“Liquid fuel missile engines exploding do not give off radiation, and we know that the Russians are working on some kind of nuclear propulsion for a cruise missile,” said Ankit Panda, an adjunct senior fellow with the Federation of American Scientists.

Russia calls the missile the 9M730 Buresvestnik. The NATO alliance has designated it the SSC-X-9 Skyfall.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-russia-blast-usa/u-s-based-experts-suspect-russia-blast-involved-nuclear-powered-missile-idUSKCN1UZ2H5

Also, Rosatom reported that five of its people died in the blast.

[FiveGoodMen]

12. That's what I've been thinking

[samnsara]

4. uh oh

[SWBTATTReg]

6. Probably an nuclear engine, which would allow the missile to fly forever ... they've already ...

(the Russians) that they have such things...

[Anon-C]

7. Right!

[RockRaven]

8. IOW, Russian don't trust their government or state-controlled media...

For good reason.

[Ghost Dog]

10. Nobody sensible anywhere trusts

their own government.