NUKE REBUKE
US blames Russian nuclear cruise missile test for huge explosion that killed five at military base
AMERICAN nuke experts say the testing of a Russian nuclear cruise missile was to blame for a huge explosion at a military site that killed five of its workers.
Russia's state nuclear agency confirmed the deaths were caused by Thursday's blast, which left a further three people injured and sparked radiation fears.
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The accident happened while testing “isotopic power sources in a liquid propulsion system”, state nuclear agency Rosatom said in a statement.
But US experts claim Rosatom may have been testing an experimental nuclear-powered cruise missile, which Vladimir Putin last year claimed to be “invincible against all existing and prospective” defence systems.
The military unit where the fire occurred is located in the village of Nenoksa, near Arkhangelsk, where ballistic missiles are tested for the Russian Navy.
RADIATION 'SPIKE'
Russian officials initially tried to play down the radiation leak, saying the levels were normal.
But a spokeswoman for Severodvinsk, a city close to the test site, said in a statement that a a 'short-term' spike in background radiation was recorded at noon Thursday.
In separate interviews, two experts said that a liquid rocket propellant explosion would not release radiation.
NUKE MISSILE
They said the explosion and radiation release could have resulted from a mishap during the testing of a nuclear-powered cruise missile at a facility outside the village of Nyonoksa.
Ankit Panda, an adjunct senior fellow with the Federation of American Scientists, said: "Liquid fuel missile engines exploding do not give off radiation, and we know that the Russians are working on some kind of nuclear propulsion for a cruise missile."
Arkhangelsk is a city in the north-east of Russia and was once the country's main seaport until 1703.
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Last Monday a massive fire erupted at a military ammunition depot near Achinsk in eastern Siberia's Krasnoyarsk region.
The blaze triggered a number of explosions that continued for around 16 hours, leaving one person dead and injuring 13 more while more than 16,500 people had to be evacuated from their homes.
Earlier this year 14 people were killed during a fire on a Russian submarine which was a nuclear spy vessel thought to be on a secret mission.
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Five nuclear staff dead in Russian nuclear missile test accident
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