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A scary situation is unfolding in Russia where a top-secret missile exploded and caused radiation levels to soar. Residents in Severodvinsk, a city 18 miles from the weapons testing site at Nyonoksa, have gone into a “panic” after radiation levels were reported to spike 20 times above the normal level.
On Thursday, there was an explosion at the Nyonoksa military base. The explosion could be seen and heard in neighboring Severodvinsk.
https://twitter.com/BreakingNLive/status/1159551101370322945
The Russian Defence Ministry said a total of six servicemen and civilian engineers were injured in the accident and taken to the regional hospital in Arkhangelsk. Two people would later die from their injuries.
Video shows a “motorcade of ambulances carrying wounded in explosion near Severodvinsk. Drivers are in hazmat suits, rear doors of vans covered with cellophane.”
Moscow: Motorcade of ambulances carrying wounded in explosion near Severodvinsk. Drivers are in hazmat suits, rear doors of vans covered with cellophane https://t.co/6RSd12uaHA via @bazabazon #Russia pic.twitter.com/L4f1RK98cW
— Liveuamap (@Liveuamap) August 9, 2019
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With fears of radiation poisoning on the minds of the local people of Severodvinsk, iodine tablets were reportedly sold out soon after the massive explosion. People were quick to snatch up all of the iodine tablets because they help prevent radioactive iodine from entering the thyroid gland.
The Russian government assured its citizens that there had not been a release of radioactivity or any toxic substances. “Civilians and residents of neighboring populated localities were not hurt,” the Russian health ministry said.
Sergey Dolgushin, who lives in Severodvinsk, was extremely cautious about the dangers of the explosion and compared it to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster.
“Usually if the authorities say that everything is okay it means the exact opposite,” Sergey said. “This is exactly how they were lying to people at Chernobyl.”
Former Northern Fleet commander Admiral Vyacheslav Popov said: “Explosions at test sites are commonplace.”
Neighboring Norway calling on Russia “to investigate the consequences of the explosion.”
We have real time measurement network of radiation in Finland. You may check if radiation spreads further. In attach picture is marked measurement stations in the Eastern Finland and Severodvinsk in Russia. https://t.co/zJXY0YFqFg pic.twitter.com/jXtB8Wb8cd
— Harri Luuppala (@HarriLuuppala) August 9, 2019
Experts believe that the explosion came from the Zircon missile, one of Russia’s newest and most dangerous weapons of war.
https://twitter.com/BSeeprs85/status/1159539268596801536
The Zircon, also known as the Tsirkon, is a liquid-propellant hypersonic missile with a scramjet motor that Russian military touts to have unbelievable speeds of Mach 8 (6,090) and possibly even mach 9 (6,851 mph). That would mean that the Zircon missile could travel 1.7 miles to 1.9 miles per second.
The Zircon missile travels at such incredibly high speeds that it would “likely create a cloud of plasma around the missile, absorbing any radio waves and making the missile virtually invisible to radars (plasma stealth).”
In February, Russian President Vladimir Putin touted the Zircon missile as “yet another innovation, work on which proceeds successfully and shall be completed on schedule.” Putin went on to say that the weapon would have a firing range of “over one thousand kilometers” (621 miles) and “is able to destroy both sea-going and land targets.”
Russia has kept the wraps on the Zircon’s actual performance from tests and hasn’t shared any video of the missile in action. But it is believed by security experts that Russia uses the Nyonoksa military range for testing the Zircon missile.
You can learn more about the capabilities of the Zircon missile in these videos.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=expKM3djlIU