The radioactivity was multiplied by 16 after the nuclear explosion on a Russian basis

What happened Thursday at the Nionoska Russian missile test base will probably never be revealed. The only thing known is that the explosion that occurred killed five employees of the Rosatom nuclear agency also increased the level of radioactivity more than 16 times in the neighboring city of Severodvinsk, said the Russian meteorological agency on Tuesday.

On August 8, 2019, at 12 local time, immediately after the explosion, "six of the eight Severodvinsk sensors reported that radiation levels were four to sixteen times higher than usual," said Rosguidromet in a statement. . However, the agency said that the incident did not involve no danger to health.

One of the sensors recorded a radioactivity level of 1.78 microsieverts / hour, while the regulatory limit in Russia is 0.6 and the average natural radioactivity in Severodvinsk is 0.11. Rosguidromet points out that these levels of radioactivity were reduced rapidly and that they returned to normal in the afternoon.

The World Health Organization (WHO), for its part, estimates that the cancer risk may increase from 50 000 microsieverts received.

As revealed by the Rosatom nuclear agency, the five employees who died in the blast were working on tests "new weapons", providing technical and technical badistance on the "source of nuclear energy" d & # 39; a rocket engine for missiles, that they were developing.

According to US experts, the accident is likely related to the tests of a cruise missile that Russia seeks to develop, the 9M730 "Burevestnik".

Putin made a splash last year by presenting a new generation of missiles developed by his country, "invincible", "undetectable" and "hypersonic". He has threatened to deploy these new weapons to attack "decision centers" in Western countries.

On Tuesday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov refused to confirm that it was the "Burevestnik", but said that the Russian level in terms of nuclear-powered missiles "far exceeds that reached by other countries and is quite exceptional ".

In a tweet, President Donald Trump said Monday that many things had been reported "about the explosion of a defective Russian missile," adding that the United States had "a similar technology, but more advanced".

After paying tribute to his dead employees, the Russian nuclear agency said that "work on this new type of weapons will continue until the end".

"We will fulfill the obligations entrusted to us by our country, and your security will be fully guaranteed," Rosate chief Alexei Lijachev was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying.