Dmitriy Zhukov - FSB - Federal security service have already gone to take you to jail!
You don't need to disclose classified information.
Hail Putin!
Everyone should be calm
1
Possibly helpful background:
The Russians have long dreamed of nuclear powered spacecraft. The IGR, one of their earliest attempts at nuclear rocket engine, did not pan out for space use but the original, 1960's vintage reactor, is still in use today as a research reactor.
In the 1980's and 1990's, Russia developed newer and more compact nuclear rocket motors known at the Topaz and Topaz II. Variants of the rocket engine use 96% enriched uranium or even Pu-238. The Topaz and newer variants remain the backbone of the Russian nuclear rocket engine program.
The USA also researched nuclear rocket engines in the 1960's. In the 1990's, the USA even purchased some of the Topaz rocket motors from Russia to study and to advance the USA's own nuclear rocket engine program. While the US has used small reactors in space, there were used as power sources rather than as primary engines. There were plans to launch probes with nuclear ion drives but those plans were eventually shelved due to concerns about nuclear contamination should a rocket blow up or fail on launch.
If reports are correct, the nuclear engine that blew up is likely a thermionic Topaz-style power system being tested on a very long range cruise missile.
5
MIRV went premie. Too big for cruise.
Good lord I haven't even read this article but I did let out an audible gasp!!! Please watch Chernobyl on HBO. Holy nuclear cover-up Batman! The 5-episode series was like watching a horror movie...but it actually happened in real life. Russia is a lying government. Putin, Putin, Putin, smh! And they are doing it again!!! I can't even believe it! (yes I can!) ok, now I'll read the article lol
1
I saw the videos of the explosion that were available on the web last week. When I saw that ring form, I thought that was not just an explosion - it wasn’t. The Russians lied then and are probably lying now too. There have been reports of people buying iodine pills in that region.
6
Maybe, now that all the German scientists that created Russia's powerful rockets are dead, and Russian scientists are doing things themselves, things aren't going too well.
5
“Small nuclear reactor”?
8
Okay, let me get this straight. The Russians were testing a cruise missile powered by a nuclear reactor. Even had the test gone as planned, where were they intending to ditch the missile at the end of the test? Was it supposed to crash into the ground somewhere, spewing the contents of the reactor over the ground? Was it supposed to self-destruct in flight, spewing the contents of the reactor in the air? Or was it supposed to crash into the sea, spewing the contents of the reactor into the ocean currents?
13
I thought that this test was just a static test of the missile’s nuclear reactor assisted propulsion system on an offshore platform, so there wouldn’t be any trouble recovering the reactor if the test had gone according to plan. But, yes, eventually there would have to be flight tests, and one wonders how nuclear dirty those would be and where the reactors would wind up.
9
@Arthur Lundquist Excellent questions, Mr. Lundquist.
Equally troubling are the "president's" "tweet" that WE have "similar, though more advanced, technology".
And so we developed the same technology. Where did the test missiles go, where did they land? Were the tests conducted in the continental U.S., or did we go "offshore", and, if so, where, EXACTLY?
This reminds one of JFK's famous speech decrying secrecy, especially in our government.
We may never know what horrible "advanced technology" has been "developed" in our name, funded by our tax dollars.
1
@Arthur Lundquist Other news outlets have suggested the possibility that this was a hold-down test of the missile's nuclear powered jet engine on an offshore platform.
In the U.S., a similar nuclear powered cruise missile program called "Project Pluto" was scrapped during the cold war, because scientists could not figure out a way to keep the engine from emitting radioactive material during flight.
6
Since when does the Russian government "answer to the people"? They never have before, why start now? My family still lives in the closed town where the nuclear research center is located, and it makes me so unbelievably scared and angry that the next catastrophe will happen there and be covered up as usual.
14
In fall 2017 there was a radiation spike of Ru-106 picked up in several European and Scandinavian countries. The following investigations found that it came from a Russian facility in southern Ural, most likely Majak. Russia is still denying that there was any kind of incident and nothing was reported in the media. They successfully covered up some kind of accident. This time they tried again but like Chernobyl there was just too much attention and evidence for them to be able to cover it up.
11
One of the clear messages that came out of the Chernobyl accident is that if radioactivity is involved, the authorities must move quickly to inform and protect the population. No one should know this better than President Putin. That his government blundered so badly in their initial response to this accident at the test range in Nenoska does not portend well for his government's acuity, and possibly its future.
11
@David Godinez There are no 'authorities' in Russia. Russian state was hacked by Putin mafia
1
This is far too familiar with the chernobyl incident. I have absolutely zero trust in what russian officials are saying about it. I deeply hope it truly isn’t that big of a deal and it won’t have horrible consequences globally as chernobyl did decades ago.
14
@Topi Meuronen There are also stories about nuclear reactors being "cut out" of russian submarines, and left, still actively leaking radiation, on the seabed. More than one.
5
@Topi Meuronen Sorry to pick your post as the one to respond to but, while I agree it's horrible that this happened and that everybody's being tight lipped about it, what about the fact that another nation is actively testing a nuclear powered device that has the publicized potential to strike the USA! At what point do we cease worrying about the effects on the landing site of the propulsion mechanism during tests (Bikini Atoll anyone?) and more on the fact that a warhead is being designed with us as the GD target!
1
“The United States is learning much from the failed missile explosion in Russia,” adding that the American military has “similar, though more advanced, technology.”"
tRump is America's most dangerous leaker of military intelligence.
40
@Richard I would certainly hope we haven't developed nuclear powered OFFENSIVE missiles. If so, we need a regime change.
3
@Richard: Don't worry...he just made it up. I have some confidence that the U.S. military realizes that Trump thinks a cruise missile is something mounted on a Royal Carribbean ship and therefore keeps any true secret technology from him.
3
@Alan Dean Foster Somehow, taking that as fact, makes me feel LESS secure.
3
Oh my. Rain that was not lethal but radioactive and "shouldn't happen in a society where the government answers to the people." Poor darlings, still have faith in the Putin crowd.
20
As much as the press here in America often infuriates me, it is the one institution that I have faith in to keep us free. The military doesn't keep anybody free, as much as I admire them. China has a huge powerful military. Nobody's free in China because they don't have a free press or access to information. Reporters who are free to dig into the dark corners of this country are what makes the difference. Hats off to the brave reporters of Russia who have often lost their lives trying to report on that countries issues.
68
This is precisely the state of affairs Trump would like in the US: no accountability, no significant safeguards, the state controls the flow of information.
76
@Patricia. As much as left likes to think trump invented dishonesty in government, the U.S. has a long history of not telling the truth regarding nuclear incidents in this country. From SL1 here in Idaho to broken arrow incidents with nuclear weapons. It's up to, we the people, and the press, to keep an eye on the government and disclose the facts. It always been that way, not just starting in 2016.
7
I am sure that none of them saw graphite on the roof because it wasn't there.
10
After Chernobyl, we are supposed to believe Russia; why? And how is this story so unimportant that The New York Times buried it at the bottom of today’s feed, under a story about summer fruit?
I guess Nuclear Fallout is no big deal anymore. Call me paranoid but I think this is a major story and we should be digging into how bad it really is.
91
Totally agree and, moreover, actually interesting as opposed to the endless repetitive stories of the primary race.
16
Has no one watched Chernobyl on HBO? I'd get out now.
34
@Brian. If one looks back at the history of nuclear accidents in this country it is clear that telling the truth right off the bat wasn't done. This does not excuse the Russians, but dishonesty from the Feds regarding this kind of thing happened long before trump came on the scene.
3