OT: Russian missile explosion and radioactive fallout

[Chickenboy]

Interesting article on the recent tragedy in Russia:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/russian-nu ... 1565446468

[RangerJoe]

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[Yaab]

Fallout, fallout never changes.

[RangerJoe]

Fallout, fallout never changes.

Fallout changes. If it is radioactive, then it changes into a different molecule.

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Fallout, fallout never changes.

Fallout changes. If it is radioactive, then it changes into a different molecule.

And (eventually) becomes less radioactive.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

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Whoops. Try this from the Guardian:

Russia’s state nuclear agency Rosatom confirmed on Friday night that five of its staff members were killed in an accident during tests at a military site in northern Russia earlier this week.

The accident occurred during tests on a liquid propellant rocket engine on Thursday, the RIA news agency said, citing Rosatom.

Russian authorities had previously said two people had been killed in the incident and that a nearby city had reported a rise in radiation levels when a rocket engine blew up at a testing site in the Archangelsk region. Shortly after the explosion, gamma radiation levels in the neighbouring city of Severodvinsk reportedly jumped to 20 times their normal rate for nearly half an hour, contradicting the ministry’s assurances that all levels were normal.

Further explosions, injuring nine people, were reported on Friday at the site. Russia’s defence ministry said in a statement it had been hit by lightning. [ETA: That's a good one, comrade. Never mind the nuclear explosion, it was lightning.]

Pharmacies in two northern Russia cities have reported increased sales of iodine, a chemical used to limit the effects from radiation exposure.

Since the incident, a section of a bay in the White Sea has been closed to civilian shipping and photographs of rescue workers wearing protective gear including respirators have raised concerns about the accident. A statement put on the Severodvinsk city website about the heightened radiation levels has also been deleted, erasing some of the only official confirmation that the incident occurred at all.

Reports on the Arkhangelsk news site 29.ru and the Interfax news agency said that local pharmacies had reported a run on iodine tablets since Thursday, and that locals were concerned about the possibility of exposure.

“They bought everything yesterday, first iodine tablets, iodomarin, then normal iodine and potassium iodide,” one pharmacist told Interfax. “The fuss began around 17.00 and by the time we closed they had bought everything. People at the register were discussing the news about the radiation in Severodvinsk, the explosion and the soldiers.”

Footage obtained by the news site Mash showed emergency workers wearing protective suits with respirators putting an injured person into an ambulance. On Friday, the Baza news site reported that the injured men had been brought to a Moscow clinic for radiation poisoning treatment and released a video of a convoy of police cars and ambulances travelling through Moscow. The clinic and a defence ministry spokesman both declined to respond to questions about the report.

It is not clear what rocket engine or weapon system was being tested at the military site. Russia’s northern fleet, including its nuclear-powered submarines, is based nearby, and the explosion reportedly occurred near a firing range for submarine-launched ballistic missiles.

Theories include an explosion aboard a ship with a nuclear reactor or a failed test of the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile mentioned by Vladimir Putin during a televised speech in 2018. If the spike in radiation levels was a coincidence, fear of contamination from toxic jet fuel may also explain the use of protective gear during the operation to rescue those injured in the blast.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

Fallout, fallout never changes.

Fallout changes. If it is radioactive, then it changes into a different molecule.

And (eventually) becomes less radioactive.

Yeah, but depending on the particular isotope involved it may take years to reach its half life. I think the most likely cause of the drop in radiation levels is environmental dissipation.

[Yaab]

Fallout becomes Half-Life. Now, that is a mutation I can drink to!

[Zorch]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe



Fallout changes. If it is radioactive, then it changes into a different molecule.

And (eventually) becomes less radioactive.

Yeah, but depending on the particular isotope involved it may take years to reach its half life. I think the most likely cause of the drop in radiation levels is environmental dissipation.

True, the radioactive particles are absorbed by the environment, but they are still radioactive. If people dig in the soil, or chop down the trees, or drink milk from the cows, etc., they absorb radiation.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Yaab

Fallout becomes Half-Life. Now, that is a mutation I can drink to!

Drink? Nuka-Kola? [8D]

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: Zorch

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Zorch



And (eventually) becomes less radioactive.

Yeah, but depending on the particular isotope involved it may take years to reach its half life. I think the most likely cause of the drop in radiation levels is environmental dissipation.

True, the radioactive particles are absorbed by the environment, but they are still radioactive. If people dig in the soil, or chop down the trees, or drink milk from the cows, etc., they absorb radiation.

Yes. I was mostly referring to regional measurable radiation. One should expect the regional radiation monitors to spike and then return nearer baseline as the radiation from the leak / explosion dissipates in the water, air or wherever else.

[RangerJoe]

We will always consume radioactive elements. Carbon 14 comes to mind.

[Chickenboy]

ORIGINAL: RangerJoe

We will always consume radioactive elements. Carbon 14 comes to mind.

People of some places will consume more radioactive elements than others. Residents of Severodvinsk come to mind.

[geofflambert]

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

ORIGINAL: Yaab

Fallout becomes Half-Life. Now, that is a mutation I can drink to!

Drink? Nuka-Kola? [8D]

Goes well with Chicken Chernobyl

[RangerJoe]

quote:

ORIGINAL: Chickenboy

quote:

ORIGINAL: Yaab

Fallout becomes Half-Life. Now, that is a mutation I can drink to!

Drink? Nuka-Kola?

Goes well with Chicken Chernobyl

I thought that it was Chicken ChernoBull!

[Chickenboy]

Update:

Looks like confirmation that the explosion source was that of an “isotope power source for a liquid fueled rocket engine.”

The offshore platform where the explosion took place was also associated with a ship that had been used for previous nuclear powered cruise missile testing. If the explosion took place on a platform at sea, that would also explain the rapid environmental (read: air) radiation dissipation. Because now it's in the water for the most part.

[geofflambert]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/12/worl ... ule=inline

I have the paper copy if you can't access the article

[Jorge_Stanbury]

I had a hard time finding that news on "Russia Today", instead I got an article on how wonderful this new Mig-41 stealth, hypersonic, 10th generation fighter bomber interceptor would be
Apparently they are planning to build ~10,000 by 2020 [:D]

[miv792]

ORIGINAL: Jorge_Stanbury

I had a hard time finding that news on "Russia Today", instead I got an article on how wonderful this new Mig-41 stealth, hypersonic, 10th generation fighter bomber interceptor would be
Apparently they are planning to build ~10,000 by 2020 [:D]

Russia Today-fake news.
I live in Russia, after the collapse of the USSR Russia lost a lot, now very often you can see on the news how Russian missiles fall. I do not believe that under the current government, Russia will be able to build 100 such aircraft, and that most of them will be made of plywood and the money will be stolen by the mafia from officials.

[rustysi]

Sorry for my english

No need. Seems well enough to me. Now my Russian... Oh wait, what Russian. Yeah, now that I think about it I think I can still say good-bye. And no, I can't spell it.

Not that my English is any good either, and its my native tongue.