Russian rocket engine explosion & radiation kills two.

Two dead in Russian rocket engine explosion; radiation spikes, shipping shut down.

On August 8, a Russian military test turned tragic when a rocket engine exploded, killing two people and injuring four others.

Russia's military cruse missile technology push has unfortunately produced deadly consequences.  Rosatom has confirmed that five people have died and three injured after an explosion on August 8th while testing an isotopic (nuclear) power source for a rocket's liquid propulsion system. The same blast also increased radiation levels by as much as twenty times higher in nearby Severodvinsk, which left at least two dead.

Russian news outlet 29.ru reported that residents of the cities of Severodvinsk and Arkhangelsk have been scrambling to buy iodine from pharmacies, many of which have sold out. Potassium iodide can hinder the collection of radioactive iodine-131 in thyroid glands, which can cause cancer.

Officials also ordered shipping in the nearby Dvina Bay region of the White Sea, near both the military facility where the explosion occurred and a nuclear submarine production facility closed.

Rosatom's statement didn't say exactly what hardware was involved, but the New York Times pointed to clues that it might have been an experimental weapon. President Putin has talked about work on a nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Burevestnik or Petrel, that would have effectively unlimited range. If that was the source of the explosion, it may have just faced a significant setback.

This wouldn't be the first time in recent memory that Russia's weapons experimentation has run into trouble. It boasted of developing a hypersonic weapon that would be ready by 2019, but a lack of resources and high costs has apparently delayed the project. The country is determined to gain superiority over rivals like the US and Europe, and a tragedy like this won't necessarily be a deterrent.

“At the test site of the Russian Ministry of Defense in the Arkhangelsk region, when testing a liquid propulsion system, an explosion occurred and the product ignited,” the defense ministry told the Russian news agency TASS, in a statement.

The ministry claimed, “there were no harmful emissions into the atmosphere, the radiation background is normal.” But the city of Severodvinsk, which has a population of 185,000, reported a spike in radiation at noon. 

Reuters reported that the RIA news agency quoted Russia’s Defense Ministry as saying the explosion didn’t release any radioactive or toxic substances into the atmosphere.

It is unlikely that a liquid-propellant rocket engine explosion alone would cause a rise in radiation levels, leading to speculation about what really happened.

Another Russian agency, Mash, shared photos and a video of what appear to be emergency responders in hazmat suits and Geiger counters, and a person being moved to an ambulance. Unconfirmed reports on social media claim victims are being treated for radiation exposure.