Experimental ‘isotope & liquid-propellant’ engine blast kills 5 Russian nuclear experts - Rosatom

Five staff of Russia’s nuclear corporation Rosatom were killed and three suffered serious burns in the blast during a test of a liquid-propellant engine that resulted in a brief spike of radiation around the military testing site.

The Rosatom engineering and technical team was working on the “isotope power source” for a propulsion system on Thursday, when the accident happened. The blast caused a background radiation spike, which quickly returned back to normal.

The White Sea is blocked off for shipping for the next month.