Russia Changes Position On Radiation Leaks Again Weeks After Nuclear Missile Explosionhttps://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/29578/russia-changes-position-on-radiation-leaks-again-weeks-after-nuclear-missile-explosionRussia's state environmental monitoring agency has acknowledged the presence of four radioactive substances in Severodvinsk, a city less than 20 miles from the site of a still very mysterious explosion during the test of an unspecified nuclear-powered missile. The new details continue to suggest the incident was related to the development of the nuclear-powered cruise missile Burevestnik, but they also raise further questions about how transparent the Kremlin is being about the scale of the accident that killed at least seven people.
Personnel from the Federal Service for Hydrometeorology and Environmental Monitoring of Russia, better known by its Russian acronym Roshydromet, took water samples from areas near Severodvinsk between Aug. 10 and Aug. 23, 2019, and found traces of the radionuclides strontium-91, barium-139, barium-140, and lanthanum-140, according to a statement. These substances experience fast radioactive decay and the press release indicated that the brief spike in ambient background radiation that Severodvinsk authorities reported after the missile test accident was attributable to inert gasses released as a result.
"These specified radionuclides rule out, to some extent, the possibility of a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG)," Andrei Zolotkov, a Russian chemist with extensive experience with nuclear reactors from 35 years of working on the country's nuclear icebreaker fleets, told The Guardian. "Usually, an RTG uses just one radionuclide, and during its decay, and it cannot produce these kinds of isotopes."
Strontium-91, barium-139, barium-140, and lanthanum-140 are relatively uncommon, but could come from the operation of a nuclear reactor using a traditional nuclear fuel source, such as uranium-235. However, these types of fission reactions typically produce cesium-137 and iodine-131, which the Russian government says it has not yet seen in elevated levels. Zolotkov told The Guardian that the new disclosure from Roshydromet would mean that the missile contained some kind of novel reactor design or that the Kremlin is still not providing a full accounting of the situation.
At the same time, there has already been evidence that the Russians are at least trying to heavily control the flow of information surrounding the accident, if they're not looking to cover it up entirely. There had previously been indications that the Kremlin was deliberately shutting down environmental monitoring stations that could collect further data regarding radiation leakages.
One of the doctors who treated individuals injured in the accident reportedly ended up with cesium-137 in his system, as well. Russian authorities posited that this individual had become contaminated after eating "Fukushima crabs," a reference to seafood that might have become contaminated after the near-meltdown at the Fukushima Daini nuclear powerplant in Japan in 2011 following the catastrophic Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2019/aug/25/russian-officials-blame-food-for-traces-of-radiation-in-doctor-treating-blast-victims Before that, there had been unconfirmed reports of significant cesium-137 contamination at the Arkhangelsk Regional Clinical Hospital, after doctors and other staff treated patients from the accident site without receiving any warning about possible radiation exposure.
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A purported picture of the two barges involved in the nuclear-powered missile test, including the heavily damaged one at left.-----------------------
Where's the strontium-90, cesium-137, iodine-131
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In other news this week, some Ukrainians connected a nuclear plant to the internet so they could illegally mine cryptocurrency, prompting a raid by the Secret Service last month, ZDNet reported Monday. The episode is being investigated “as a potential breach of state secrets due to the classification of nuclear power plants as critical infrastructure.”
Location: the South Ukraine Nuclear Power Plant, near Yuzhnoukrainsk, in southern Ukraine.
Seized by investigators: “two metal cases containing basic computer parts, but with additional power supplies, coolers, and video cards. According to court documents, one case held six Radeon RX 470 GPU video cards, and the second five.”
If it sounds like you’ve read this story before, similar episodes played out three separate times in early 2018, ZDNet writes. What happened then: “In February 2018, Russian authorities arrested engineers from the Russian Nuclear Center for using the agency’s supercomputer to mine cryptocurrency. A month later, Australian officials began an investigation into a similar case at the Bureau of Meteorology, where employees used work computers to mine cryptocurrency. A month after that, in April 2018, an employee at the Romanian National Research Institute for Nuclear Physics and Engineering was also caught mining cryptocurrency at work.”