In Russia, five people died in a failed military camp test. In addition, apparently radioactivity was released. The accident in the north of the country, according to the Russian Atomic Energy Agency Rosatom came at the test run of a rocket engine for liquid fuel, the Russian news agency RIA reported today.
Russian authorities previously reported that two people had been killed in the incident. In a nearby town, increased radioactive radiation was detected. A bay on the White Sea was partially closed to shipping.
Experts suspect explosion of nuclear power
American experts, however, suspect that it has come in an explosion of the test of a novel cruise missile with nuclear propulsion. Ankit Panda, of the American Scientist Association, said no radioactivity is released in the explosion of a liquid fuel powered rocket engine. He assumed that there had been an accident with an engine powered by nuclear energy. A second US expert interviewed by the Reuters news agency also took this view.
Iodine sold out
According to media reports, residents in the vicinity of the rocket test area have covered themselves with iodine. In several pharmacies of the two port cities Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk iodine, which can help with radioactive radiation, already sold out.
After the disaster on Thursday, the Russian Ministry of Defense had stressed that no pollutants had leaked. „The radiation levels are normal,“ it said in an official statement. However, the city administration of Severodvinsk temporarily measured increased levels of radioactive radiation. The readings would have normalized at noon, it was said on Thursday.
