Speculations on the Nenoksa Explosion

Nuclear Diner – by Cheryl Rofer

On the morning of Thursday, August 8, something exploded at the Nenoksa Naval Base in Russia, not far from the city of Severodvinsk. This article is a good summary of what we knew by Friday. Since then, the Russian government has said that a radioactive source was involved in the explosion, along with liquid rocket fuel. Reports have gone back and forth on whether radiation detectors in Severodvinsk detected anything. Five more people have been reported dead. Sarov/VNIIEF, one of the Russian nuclear weapons laboratories, has released a statement, which some folks are rushing to translate. 

Update: Sarah Bidgood has translated the video. Here’s the start of her thread. No additional information about what was being done.

For my non-Russian speakers, this video is an official announcement from the leadership of RFNC-VNIIEF regarding the Aug. 8 event at the MOD test site in the Arkhangel’sk oblast’. As we know, 5 people died. 3 have been hospitalized with moderately severe injuries. (1/10) https://t.co/Z71TLFiKyk

— Sarah Bidgood (@sbidgood) August 11, 2019

Here are some things that we know. Jeffrey Lewis and the OSINT group at MIIS are doing a good job with the small amount of information we have. I mostly agree with them, although I tend to be slightly more conservative in my confidence in the interpretations. They are publishing mainly on Jeffrey’s Twitter feed. Here’s a recent thread.

First, Russia appears to have recently moved SSC-X-9 testing to Nenoksa. In the past year, Russia built a launch area that closely resembles the one removed from Novaya Zemlya with a shelter on rails. (Also, blue shipping containers!) pic.twitter.com/yMCDVFt51t

— Jeffrey Lewis (@ArmsControlWonk) August 10, 2019

See the rest here: https://nucleardiner.wordpress.com/2019/08/11/speculations-on-the-nenoksa-explosion/