MOSCOW — Radiation levels are up to 16 times the norm in a nearby town after an explosion at a Russian missile testing site, the national weather service says today.
The explosion at the Arctic facility on Thursday killed five scientists with Russia’s nuclear agency, which later confirmed they were involved in testing new weapons. More victims were hospitalized.
Rosgidromet, the weather monitoring service, says its sensors in Severodvinsk, a town about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the Nyonoksa test site, registered gamma radiation exceeding background levels by “four to 16 times.”
Rosgidromet says the levels were higher at six out of eight of its stations in Severodvinsk and that levels returned to normal after 2.5 hours.
One of the sensors registers a level of 1.78 microsieverts per hour, well above the local average but far below dangerous levels.
Russia’s Rosatom nuclear agency has said its staff were providing support for the “isotope power source” of a missile and were thrown into the sea from the testing platform by the force of the explosion.
US experts have linked the incident to the 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile touted by Russian President Vladimir Putin earlier this year.
— AFP
Help us report truthfully on social media
As a multimedia journalist, my job is to take the quality, fact-based journalism produced by The Times of Israel newsroom and make it accessible across every platform — from Instagram posts to podcasts to short-form videos.
This is how many, especially young people, consume news these days. But misinformation is rampant on social media. Our team at ToI produces accurate, responsible short-form reporting on Israel and the Jewish world.
If you believe in the importance of factual social media journalism, please consider joining our reader support group, The Times of Israel Community. Your financial support is essential to sustain responsible multimedia reporting.
— Gabriella Jacobs, multimedia journalist
Support our work
Support our work
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
You're a dedicated reader
We’re really pleased that you’ve read X Times of Israel articles in the past month.
That’s why we started the Times of Israel - to provide discerning readers like you with must-read coverage of Israel and the Jewish world.
So now we have a request. Unlike other news outlets, we haven’t put up a paywall. But as the journalism we do is costly, we invite readers for whom The Times of Israel has become important to help support our work by joining The Times of Israel Community.
For as little as $6 a month you can help support our quality journalism while enjoying The Times of Israel AD-FREE, as well as accessing exclusive content available only to Times of Israel Community members.
Thank you,
David Horovitz, Founding Editor of The Times of Israel
Join Our Community
Join Our Community
Already a member? Sign in to stop seeing this
From the Liveblog of
Tuesday, August 13, 2019
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on Google
