Russians Rush To Buy Iodine After Blast Causes Radiation Spike (reuters.com) 85
Residents of two northern Russian cities are stocking up on iodine that is used to reduce the effects of radiation exposure after a mysterious accident on a nearby military testing site, regional media reported. Reuters: The Ministry of Defence has given few details of the accident, saying only that two people were killed and six injured by the explosion of a liquid-propelled rocket engine at a test site in Russia's north. Although the ministry initially said no harmful chemicals were released into the atmosphere and radiation levels were unchanged, authorities in the nearby city of Severodvinsk reported what they described as a brief spike in radiation. No official explanation has been given for why such an accident would cause radiation to spike.
"Everyone has been calling asking about iodine all day," one pharmacy was quoted as saying by 29.Ru, a media outlet that covers the Arkhangelsk area. It said the run on iodine had occurred in the northern port cities of Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk and that several pharmacies had run out. Severodvinsk is the site of a shipyard that builds nuclear-powered submarines.
"Everyone has been calling asking about iodine all day," one pharmacy was quoted as saying by 29.Ru, a media outlet that covers the Arkhangelsk area. It said the run on iodine had occurred in the northern port cities of Arkhangelsk and Severodvinsk and that several pharmacies had run out. Severodvinsk is the site of a shipyard that builds nuclear-powered submarines.
Chernobyl 2.0 (Score:4, Interesting)
We'll find out how bad this really is, when the neighboring countries start releasing their measure radiation numbers.
Just like with Chernobyl 1.0.
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Nothing out of the ordinary in Sweden nor Finland.
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lolz, no Chernobyl not contained as reactor melting down without containment was open to sky. It released far more long term isotopes and the fire spread to larger area than Fukushima.
Fukushima is local problem, and don't be a tard and talk about the one extra xenon atom per cubic meter that was detected in California due to Fukushima, it doesn't matter.
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I know more about it than you ever could, AC
Those MK-1 can't and won't make the level of problem Chernobyl did.
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"Do you know who I am?!
I'm Ed Gruberman."
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It doesn't matter? It's spread halfway around the fucken world and you think it doesn't matter. It's not contained, it's still leaking shit everywhere, and there are millions of litres of contaminated water in temporary containers that are also starting to leak. Don't get me wrong, I am all for nuclear power, if it's done right. But
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Exactly, it floated over half of Europe, it didn't travel half way around the world and contaminate the entire fucking ocean.
I'm not saying both were not bad and should never have happened, I am just getting sick and tired of the "Hate Russia" shit that keeps spewing out of the US.
"Russia meddled with our elections!" Like America never ever did that, ever, ever.
"Russia invaded Crimea!" No, they annexed it because they were asked to after a re
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Chernobyl was contained
Ahh I see. You took iodine tablets instead of your anti-psychotics by mistake.
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Ahh I see. You took iodine tablets instead of your anti-psychotics by mistake.
I don't believe that was a mistake but quite intentional.
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Well based upon previous pronouncements, I think we can all guess this was a catastrophic failure of one of those nuclear powered very long range cruise missile engines and probably, some careless maintenance which allowed the likely conflagration to expand further than it should have done if procedures were carried out properly. Probably trying for greater speed, pushing the limit, smarter to go slow and low, real low. For counter strike, compact submarines with torpedo tubes only loaded in drydock (lots o
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Sounds like HBO's new reality series went a little too far.
Re:Chernobyl 2.0 (Score:5, Interesting)
A lesson from Chernobyl is that you don't wait till an accident to buy iodine. Potassium-iodide is dirt cheap. There is no reason that everyone shouldn't own a small bottle.
Thyroid cancer was the number one killer from Chernobyl. A few rubles worth of K-I could have prevented nearly all of those cases.
Regular use of iodized salt is also a big help. It will also make your kids smarter [nih.gov].
How adding iodine to salt boosted Americans' IQ [discovermagazine.com]
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A lesson from Chernobyl is that you don't wait till an accident to buy iodine. Potassium-iodide is dirt cheap. There is no reason that everyone shouldn't own a small bottle.
There is a reason to not own a small bottle of potassium iodide, it can kill your thyroid.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
There is reason for caution with prescribing the ingestion of high doses of potassium iodide and iodate, as their unnecessary use can cause conditions such as the Jod-Basedow phenomena, trigger and/or worsen hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, and then cause temporary or even permanent thyroid conditions.
Also from that Wikipedia article is mention of a kind of "dual use" for iodine tablets use in water purification.
The use of a particular 'Iodine tablet' used in portable water purification has also been determined as somewhat effective at reducing radioiodine uptake. In a small study on human subjects, who for each of their 90-day trial, ingested four 20 milligram tetraglycine hydroperiodide (TGHP) water tablets, with each tablet releasing 8 milligrams (ppm) of free titratable iodine;[28] it was found that the biological uptake of radioactive iodine in these human subjects dropped to, and remained at, a value of less than 2% the radioiodine uptake rate of that observed in control subjects who went fully exposed to radioiodine without treatment.
Thyroid cancer was the number one killer from Chernobyl. A few rubles worth of K-I could have prevented nearly all of those cases.
I'd like to see your source on that. This is what I found.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/p... [nih.gov]
Results. Based on postoperative histopathological examinations, thyroid cancer was diagnosed in six of the 100,000 people screened. Conclusion. Given a thyroid cancer frequency of approximately 8 in 100,000 in the Turkish population, according to the Turkish Cancer Research Association, the rate in Rize reflects no increase in the thyroid cancer incidence 22 years after the Chernobyl disaster.
Here's something I can't argue too much about.
Regular use of iodized salt is also a big help. It will also make your kids smarter.
How adding iodine to salt boosted Americans' IQ
Iodine is, like most everything in this world, good when used in moderation. If you want smarter kids then there's a handful of things
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You buy the iodine early to prevent a shortage later. You don't consume it unless there's an incident. There was nothing wrong with what they said.
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You buy the iodine early to prevent a shortage later. You don't consume it unless there's an incident.
I can agree with that at least, and even then with some caveats. Potassium iodide tablets contain large doses of iodine and so taking them should be done with the advice of a physician or other person with medical training. That Wikipedia article I linked to before stated the dangers from the very large dose found in a potassium iodide tablet. That Wikipedia article also stated that water purification tablets that contain iodine were shown to be effective in protection from radioactive iodine. I'm no ch
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I just keep a stockpile of dried kelp.
If there is a radiation leak, you just eat 2 meals of kelp per day and you get your iodine.
Don't wait until you need it, during Fukushima the local asian market sold out.
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Iodized salt prevents deficiency-caused hypothyroidism. Hypothyroidism in the mother during pregnancy is known to have a negative effect on the baby's IQ, probably because of the impact on cellular development and metabolism in the brain (such as reduced energy transport and poor cholesterol uptake).
So, yeah. Use iodized salt. But don't go overboard; excess iodine (eg. from kelp) can cause thyroid damage.
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We'll find out how bad this really is...
If it was a missile test (doubtful), then it was a test of a fission-powered (open-type reactor) missile. Nothing new, in theory.
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The powerful explosion of a secretive missile engine with an âoeisotope power sourceâ blew the device into pieces and threw workers off a sea platform, Russian nuclear agency Rosatom said.
Cesium-based weaponry would appear to have finally gone mainstream...
Re: Radiation source to power satellites (Score:1)
Or they are doing it just in case.
Not really, no. (Score:2)
Why would you load the satellite for an engine test?
More likely is this:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Electronic controls on an unshielded nuclear cruise missile are problematic, at best.
A few ionization paths thru the right transistors, and it spits the control rods out on the ground, lol.
Ivan doesn't even have time to see them on the ground and say, "These look important, comrade".
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Little Johnny knows what to do!
Stock up (Score:3)
on iodized vodka.
Guess the power source was radioactive (Score:2)
Next time, try not to start a global war.
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Apparently the Russians want to build one now too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Announced last year, and named via a public vote. At least they didn't call it "Missiley McMissileface". I could definitely see this being a test failure, which would explain the lack of official response to the "incident".
Anybody know if this area of Russia is their equivalent of Jackass Flats?
Unfortunately, the mods modded both of the parent comments down, but it is confirmed. [bbc.com] The accident was during the development of the 9M730 Burevestnik nuclear powered cruise missile.
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How about a nice game of chess?
Probably one of these: (Score:2)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
A Nuclear powered cruise missle.
That's much Better than our Nuclear Aircraft design from the 50's, due to not having to shield the crew, which caused a major weight penalty.
IDK how well the electronics will withstand the radiation of active fission, but I bet it had something to do with the explosion, lol.
A couple of hot neutrons hitting the right transistors, and it thinks "Yank ALL the control rods? OK."
Boom.
Brief spike? (Score:3)
So, what do they mean by "brief spike"? IOW, how long was the "brief", and how high was the "spike"?
And how far away was the "nearby" city?
Oh, and which way was the wind blowing?
Enquiring minds want to know, because the answers to those questions will allow for some reasonable speculation about whatever happened, as opposed to "no big deal" and/or "we're all going to DIE!!!" which is all we can really say based on the information available.
Well, other than "a brief spike makes no sense whatsoever. any nuclear sort of accident will produce a spike that lasts considerably longer than "brief"."
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Generally, I agree with the lack of any real information or the likely hysteria to follow. But, even had they accidentally done a full-yield detonation of the biggest warhead they have, it's still a "no big deal". Lots and lots of nuclear devices have been set off in the atmosphere mand dozens of times, one more is still no big deal.
You do wonder how far things have fallen to let this sort of thing happen, but you can never underestimate the contempt that a communist has for his fellow man.
Long enough, apparently. :) (Score:2)
Long enough to make it rapidly disassemble, and spread itself across Russia.
They should test more of these, and Putin should attend to supervise personally. :)
Someone probably tried to SCRAM it; that's what made Chernobyl blow up, lol.
Isn't a Nuclear Explosion a Brief Spike? (Score:2)
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A nuclear explosion is literally NOTHING like a "nuclear event". It's a flash of a radiation that can kill people, not buildings flying apart and vaporizing.
Depends on the event. (Score:2)
The original Kyshtym disaster was a Chemical explosion in a tank full of waste.
It spread radioactivity across much of Russia.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
It'll be contaminated way more than the Pripyat area for centuries to come.
The area near the tank was devastated as much as a Hiroshima-sized explosion, and that was from a buried tank of ANFO, basically.
It was still classified as a nuclear event, tho.
iodine and radiation (Score:4, Informative)
Iodine pills can be taken if there is accident in fission reactor, or a nuclear bomb detonated as ground burst, because iodine-131 is one of the fission products and the thyroid absorbs it.
BUT
it's useless as tits on a bull for other rad sources and rad exposure.
Re: iodine and radiation (Score:5, Informative)
Iodine pills can be taken if there is accident in fission reactor, or a nuclear bomb detonated as ground burst, because iodine-131 is one of the fission products and the thyroid absorbs it.
BUT
it's useless as tits on a bull for other rad sources and rad exposure.
Unless used to protect against a very specific radiation threat it can also be dangerous.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
There is reason for caution with prescribing the ingestion of high doses of potassium iodide and iodate, as their unnecessary use can cause conditions such as the Jod-Basedow phenomena, trigger and/or worsen hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism, and then cause temporary or even permanent thyroid conditions.
The overblown fear of anything radioactive is causing people to act in ways that are far more harmful than the radiation itself. Such as the evacuations after Fukushima.
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/w... [nbcnews.com]
Some 300,000 people evacuated their homes in the prefecture after the disaster caused multiple meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, according to Red Cross figures.
A survey by popular Japanese newspaper Mainichi Shimbun said Monday that deaths relating to this displacement â" around 1,600 â" have surpassed the number killed in the region in the original disaster.
Close to 16,000 people were killed across Japan as a direct result of the earthquake and tsunami in 2011. According to the Mainichi report, 1,599 of these deaths were in the Fukushima Prefecture.
Causes of death in the aftermath have included âoefatigueâ due to conditions in evacuation centers, exhaustion from relocating, and illness resulting from hospital closures. The survey also said a number of suicides had been attributed to the ordeal.
Every year I get a postcard in the mail describing to me the evacuation procedure should there be a radiation threat from the nearby nuclear power plant. Seeing how many people died in the evacuation around Fukushima compared to the actual deaths from the radiation from the meltdown I have to ask myself if I would comply with an evacuation order if one was made.
There's so far been a single suspected death from the radiation out of Fukushima. Studies have been done that show the radiation threat to the public is exceedingly low.
https://www.who.int/ionizing_r... [who.int]
From a global health perspective, the health risks directly related to radiation exposure are low in Japan and extremely low in neighbouring countries and the rest of the world.
This isn't me making the claims that the radiation threat to the public is low if there is a nuclear power plant meltdown, and it's not from some nuclear power industry paid advertising agency, this is from the Red Cross and World Health Organization.
Testing tactical nuke (Score:2)
Nuclear Cruise Missle. (Score:3)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org]
Can you say Active Fission? :)
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Putin already was bragging that it was finished and tested 2 years ago.
If you don't read the news, no wonder you don't comprehend the sort of things Russia does.
Exterme late term abortion. (Score:2)
:)
Yay! (Score:2)
the movie plot would be (Score:1)
So.. (Score:1)
uradmonitor.com (Score:1)
You can click around and see radiation history in various places around that date.
https://www.uradmonitor.com/ [uradmonitor.com]
The closest site might be this one in Finland:
https://www.uradmonitor.com/to... [uradmonitor.com]
which isn't that close, but doesn't exhibit a spike either.
But way more ordinary Russians need to be buying and installing these at home so that a coverup of a radiation incident will never again be possible. (Or is there some other monitoring network that has better coverage?)