DE FAAKTO INTELLIGENCE RESEARCH OBSERVATORY
EXPLOSION AT RUSSIAN NAVEL BASE-SPIKES RADIATION LEVELS-OPEN SOURCE INTELLIGENCE NOTES
SITUATION-Massive explosion at navel weapons base in Nyonoksa, Russia
BACKGROUND
A massive explosion has occurred at a navel weapons base on the White Sea in Russia. Military officials have not provided much information about the accident which has injured 12 & killed 7 people in Nyonoksa near Achinsk. The incident which occurred on August 8 resulted in the evacuation of 16,500 people from the local area. Western intelligence believes a Russian nuclear powered cruise missile exploded during testing. Four nuclear monitoring facilities proximal to the navel base went off-line after the blast. Conflicting information signals a cover up by Russian authorities.
What Do We Know?
Key Points
- Explosion occurs at a Russian Navel Test Range in Nyonoksa near Achinsk
- 7 people are killed
- 12 people are injured
- Russia has declined to provide a cause of the explosion
- Physicians treating people injured in the blast are not told of the possible risk of radiation exposure
- Hospital records are said to have been destroyed by Russian security services
- A physician treating patients was found to be exposed to radioactive isotopes (Business Insider, 2019)
- Medical staff members at the hospital were asked to sign nondisclosure agreements
- 4 nuclear monitoring facilities near the navel base are said to have gone off-line after the explosion
- Two Russian radionuclide stations, called Dubna and Kirov, stopped transmitting data within two days of the explosion (CNN, 2019)
- Russian radionuclide stations in Bilibino and Zalesovo went silent on August 13 (CNN, 2019)
- Communication and network issues were reported to be the problem with the radionuclide stations (Business Insider, 2019)
- Radiation levels escalated in a nearby town
- 16,500 people were temporarily evacuated
- The evacuation was cancelled hours later (Business Insider, 2019)
- Russian officials have given contrasting accounts about the level of radiation released in the explosion (CNN, 2019)
- Russia’s Defense Ministry said radiation levels were normal (CNN, 2019)
- According to a top official working at the navel base in Russia’s White Sea, the explosion involved a small nuclear reactor (Time, 2019)
- The institute is working on small-scale power sources that use “radioactive materials, including fissile and radioisotope materials” according to Vyacheslav Soloviev, scientific director of the institute (Time, 2019)
- Norwegian Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority said that “tiny amounts of radioactive iodine” had been detected at an air-filter station, one week after the mystery-shrouded explosion (CNN, 2019)
- Russian President Vladimir Putin said Monday that there is no risk of increased radiation levels (CNN, 2019)
- Russian media outlets reported the explosion was from a liquid propellant jet engine
- Intelligence agencies in the west hypothesize the explosion is caused by a nuclear powered cruise missile known as 9M730 Burevestnik (Business Insider, 2019)
- NATO designation for the Russian missile is known as SSC-X-9 Skyfall (Business Insider, 2019)
Resources
It looks like the Russians are trying to hide the truth about that nuclear accident in Nyonoksa-Business Insider (2019) https://www.businessinsider.com/russia-covering-up-nuclear-accident-at-nyonoksa-2019-8
Nuclear monitoring stations went mysteriously quiet after Russian missile facility explosion-CNN (2019) https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/19/politics/nuclear-monitoring-stations-russian-missile-facility/index.html
‘Nuclear-powered’ missile accident in Russia – what really happened? The Conversation (2019) http://theconversation.com/nuclear-powered-missile-accident-in-russia-what-really-happened-121966
Russia nuclear accident: Why have four nuclear stations gone eerily quiet after explosion? Express (2019) https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1167731/russia-nuclear-explosion-accident-Burevestnik-missile-skyfall-nuclear-stations-data
Russia Says Small Nuclear Reactor Blew Up in Deadly Accident-Time (2019) https://time.com/5649826/russia-nuclear-accident/
