Military accident stokes fears of radiation release
MOSCOW — A fire that broke out Thursday at a weapons testing range in northern Russia killed two people, briefly raised radiation levels and prompted authorities to prohibit shipping and sailing in parts of the White Sea for a month, according to officials and news media reports.
Russia’s military said the fire occurred when a liquidfueled rocket engine exploded at the testing site, but it said that radiation levels remained at normal background levels, contradicting reports from municipal authorities in nearby Severodvinsk. It was the second lethal accident involving the Russian navy in just over a month.
There was no immediate explanation for the discrepancy in the statements from the military and authorities in Severodvinsk — a major manufacturing and testing center for Russia’s nuclear submarine fleet, and the closest major population center to the reported accident site.
The Interfax news agency reported that the fire had broken out near the town of Nenoksa, about 15 miles west of Severodvinsk. Russian news outlets have reported that a naval weapons test range is nearby.
The accident resulted in a “measurement of a shortterm elevation in radiation,” the local government said in a statement, citing Severodvinsk’s director of civil defense, Valentin Magomedov.
The statement said that two radiation meters in the city had showed elevated levels shortly after 11:50 a.m. Thursday. The readings declined within half an hour and returned to normal by 2 p.m., it said.
The staterun Tass news agency had earlier cited the Defense Ministry as offering a different assessment, saying that “there was no release of toxic materials into the atmosphere and the radiation level is normal.”
That account was consistent with readings from the Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority, which tracks radiation levels in the region. It said it had detected no indications of leakage as of Thursday evening.
Interfax later reported that shipping and sailing would be prohibited for a month in Dvina Bay, which is in an area of the White Sea close to the military range where the fire took place.
There were also discrepancies over details of the accident.
Tass, citing an unidentified emergency services official, reported that a fire had broken out onboard a vessel of Russia’s northern fleet northwest of Severodvinsk. An earlier report by Interfax had said the episode occurred at a weapons testing range.
A fire last month on a Russian nuclearpowered naval submersible killed 14 sailors. Officials in neighboring Norway reported no radiation release after the blaze.