Scott Ritter, a former Marine Corps intelligence officer, writing in the The American Conservative, August
26, 2019, has a different account regarding the August 8, 2019 Nyonoksa
(aka Nenoksa) explosion. Ritter's account is partly in line with Pete's belief (part
expressed here) that there is no way, with Russia's limited military budget, and competing weapons' project demands, that it could be up to the nuclear reactor rocket engine test phase for the Skyfall cruise
missile.
Ritter's full report is at
https://www.theamericanconservative.com/articles/the-medias-russian-radiation-story-implodes-upon-scrutiny/ . The following is an abridged version:
The Media’s Russian Radiation Story Implodes Upon Scrutiny
What really happened at Nenoska was less
explosive than everyone, including Trump, wanted you to believe.
How the mainstream media
reported an August 8 [2019] accident at a top-secret missile test facility in northern
Russia should serve as a cautionary tale regarding the dangers of rushed
judgments via institutional bias.
In the days following the initial report of the accident, the media exploded with speculation over both the nature of the device being tested at the Nenoksa State Central Marine Test Site and the Russian government’s muted response.
In the days following the initial report of the accident, the media exploded with speculation over both the nature of the device being tested at the Nenoksa State Central Marine Test Site and the Russian government’s muted response.
...They’re all wrong. Here’s the
real story of what actually happened at Nenoksa.
...Russia has long been
pursuing so-called “autonomous” weapons that can
be decoupled from conventional means of delivery—a missile silo or a
submarine—and instead installed in canisters that protect them from the
environment. They would then be deployed on the floor of the ocean, lying in
wait until remotely activated. One of the major obstacles confronting the
Russians is the need for [constant temperature of rocket fuel and oxidizer and electrical/electronic] system equilibrium, including the onboard
communications equipment, prior to activation. The power supply for any system
must be constant, reliable, and capable of operating for extended periods of
time without the prospect of fuel replenishment.
The solution for this power
supply problem is found in so-called “nuclear batteries,” or radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTG). [also see Wiki] An RTG generates electricity using thermocouples that convert the heat released
by the decay of radioactive material. RTGs have long been used in support of
operations in space. The Russians have long used them to provide power to
remote unmanned facilities in the arctic and in mountainous terrain.
Cesium-137, a byproduct of the fission of U-235, is considered an ideal radioisotope for
military application RTGs.
On August 8 [2019], a joint team
from the [Russian] Ministry of Defense and the All-Russian Research Institute of
Experimental Physics, subordinated to the State Atomic Energy Corporation
(ROSATOM), conducted a test of a liquid-fueled rocket engine,
in which electric power from Cesium-137 “nuclear batteries” maintained its
equilibrium state. The test was conducted at the Nenoksa State Central Marine
Test Site (GTsMP), a secret Russian naval facility known as Military Unit
09703. It took place in the waters of the White Sea, off the coast of the
Nenoksa facility, onboard a pair of pontoon platforms.
The test had been in the making
for approximately a year. What exactly was being tested and why remain a
secret, but the evaluation went on for approximately an hour. It did not
involve the actual firing of the engine, but rather the non-destructive testing
of the RTG power supply to the engine.
The test may have been a
final system check...
When the actual testing
finished, something went very wrong. According
to a sailor from the nearby Severdvinsk naval base, the hypergolic
fuels contained in the liquid engine (their presence suggests that temperature
control was one of the functions being tested) somehow combined. This created
an explosion that destroyed the liquid engine, sending an unknown amount of
fuel and oxidizer into the water. At least one, and perhaps more, of the
Cesium-137 RTGs burst open, contaminating equipment and personnel alike.
...The Russian Meteorological
Service (Roshydromet) operates what’s known as the Automatic Radiation
Monitoring System (ASKRO) in the city of Severdvinsk. ASKRO detected
two “surges” in radiation, one involving Gamma particles, the other
Beta particles. This is a pattern consistent with the characteristics of
Cesium-137, which releases Gamma rays as it decays, creating Barium-137m, which
is a Beta generator. The initial detection was reported on the Roshydromet
website, though it was subsequently taken offline.
Specialized hazardous material
teams scoured the region around Nenoksa, Archangesk, and Severdvinsk, taking
air and environmental samples. All these tested normal, confirming that the
contamination created by the destruction of the Cesium-137 batteries was
limited to the area surrounding the accident. Due to the large amount of
missile fuel that was spilled, special restrictions concerning fishing and
swimming were imposed in the region’s waters — at least until the fuel was
neutralized by the waters of the White Sea. The damage had been contained, and
the threat was over.
The reality of what happened
at Nenoksa is tragic. Seven men lost their lives and scores of others were
injured. But there was no explosion of a “nuclear cruise missile,” and it
wasn’t the second coming of Chernobyl. America’s intelligence community and the
so-called experts got it wrong — again. The root cause of their error is their
institutional bias against Russia, which leads them to view that country in the
worst possible light, regardless of the facts.
At a time when the level of
mutual mistrust between our two nuclear-armed nations is at an all-time high,
this kind of irresponsible rush to judgement must be avoided at all costs.
Scott Ritter is a former
Marine Corps intelligence officer who served in the former Soviet Union
implementing arms control treaties, in the Persian Gulf during Operation Desert
Storm, and in Iraq overseeing the disarmament of WMD. He is the author of Deal of the Century: How Iran Blocked the West’s
Road to War.
See Ritter's FULL REPORT HERE.
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There being no photos of radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), that support Russian missiles, available, see the Cassini space probe RTG in the photo (above) and diagram (below) (courtesy NASA via Wikipedia).
Pete
