Russians’ missile disaster triggers radiation spike
‘Advise everyone to close their windows’
RADIATION levels in a remote city in Russia spiked yesterday after an apparent explosion at a missile test site.
The accident left two military workers dead and four more injured, the Russian authorities said.
They also warned that an area of the White Sea off the far north of the country would be closed to merchant shipping for a month.
The accident is the second to hit the Russian military in less than a week, after a fire in an ammunition depot in Siberia on Monday caused huge explosions. Automatic sensors in the Severodvinsk – a city of 185,000 700 miles north-east of St Petersburg and just 25 miles from the test site – recorded a brief rise in radiation levels yesterday morning.
The readings were not fully explained, though the base where the blast occurred tests missile systems used by the Russian navy, including sea-launched intercontinental ballistic missiles and cruise missiles, both of which can carry nuclear warheads.
Local reports said the explosion was on a barge next to the test range near Archangel and the vessel sank after the explosion and a fire on board.
Local people were urged to take precautions against radiation.
A woman named only as Alina in Severodvinsk, told a Russian news website: ‘I work in the hospital where they’re bringing the injured. They advise everyone to close their windows and drink iodine, 44 drops per glass of water.’
Russia’s defence ministry said: ‘During the test of a liquid propellant
jet engine, an explosion occurred and the equipment caught fire.
‘Six defence ministry employees and a developer were injured. Two died of their wounds.
‘There have been no harmful discharges into the atmosphere, and radiation levels are normal.’ The ammunition depot fire in Siberia on Monday left at least one person dead and eight injured while thousands had to be evacuated from their homes. Russia’s navy has been beset by accidents over the years since the collapse of the Soviet Union.
In July, 14 sailors died in a fire aboard a nuclear-powered submarine in the Barents Sea.
In August 2000, 118 crew died on the Kursk nuclear submarine that sank in the Barents Sea after an explosion in August 2000. The accidents have been attributed to cutbacks in spending, a lack of maintenance, and the theft of parts for sale to criminal gangs.