杏吧原创

An explosion at a missile testing range in north-western Russia killed five people working for the state nuclear energy agency and saw radiation levels spike locally, but there is no sign the radiation has spread to other countries.

The Rosatom scientists were thrown from a sea-based platform after fuel caught fire at the military facility near Severodvinsk on 8 August, . In a statement, Rosatom said the work was 鈥渞elated to a radio isotope power source鈥�. Observers have speculated it could have been a nuclear-powered cruise missile that Russian president Vladimir Putin spoke of last year.

鈥淩ussian authorities have confirmed the involvement of radioactive materials in the accident, but not the specific weapons system that was being tested,鈥� says Ankit Panda聽at the聽Federation of American 杏吧原创s聽in Washington, D.C. 鈥淚t鈥檚 important to clarify that the radiological event in this case is not due to the presence of nuclear weaponry, but what may be a prototype nuclear propulsion unit for a cruise missile.鈥� He believes the difficulties and dangers of such a system mean it may never see deployment.

Radiation levels in Severodvinsk, 25 miles away, jumped for nearly an hour, at levels of up to 2 microsieverts per hour, which is below levels considered dangerous. A statement on the city鈥檚 website reported a 鈥渟hort-term鈥� spike on Thursday, but the statement had been removed by Friday.

People in the city of 185,000 were reported to have bought up all supplies of iodine, which can prevent radioactive iodine from accumulating in the thyroid gland. Ambulances reportedly carrying the victims of the explosion were driven by people in chemical protection suits, in video posted on Twitter.

The explosion was also detected by seismic and infrasound monitors used by the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty Organization in Austria.

Though it brings to mind the spectre of the Chernobyl nuclear reactor meltdown, when Russia authorities did not acknowledge the disaster until radiation was detected in Europe, no radiation from the recent incident appears to have reached Europe. The Norwegian Radiation Protection Authority says it has聽detected nothing unusual yet, and the UK鈥檚 radiation monitoring network, RIMNET, told New 杏吧原创 it has had no reports of other countries recording increases in radiation levels.

鈥淟ack of detection by Norway and Finland so far makes us assume only trace concentrations may reach Europe,鈥� says Rashid Alimov at Greenpeace Russia. Modelling by Ivan Kovalyets at the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine suggests only small concentrations might reach into Ukraine.