3 ms·
The most interesting thing I find here is that these results seem pretty conclusive that ruthenium couldn't have come from a breach in an active reactor. There
by avian 7y ago
The most interesting thing I find here is that these results seem pretty conclusive that ruthenium couldn't have come from a breach in an active reactor.
There was a submission on HN a while ago (I can't find it right now) that speculated that this release was related to Russia testing a nuclear jet-powered missile. A crash after a test flight would release radioactive materials from its reactor.
This report seems to strongly point against that theory.
- dvfjsdhgfv 7y agoThe event happened in October 2017. Putin presented a new arsenal of nuclear weapons in March 2018. Some kind of indirect relationship is not impossible.
- SiempreViernes 7y agoTheir nuclear rocket is a development effort, not an operational weapon, and they haven’t claimed to have achieved the central technical goal of making a reactor small enough to put in a missile.
- thunderbird120 7y agoIt's certainly a work in progress but it seems that they have been testing at least marginally functional versions of the missile complete with nuclear powered propulsion[1]. [1]https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/18948/u-s-has-been-secretly-watching-russias-nuclear-powered-cruise-missiles-crash-and-burn https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/18948/u-s-has-been-sec...