# That mysterious nuclear-related explosion in Russia a few days ago

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-mysterious-nuclear-related-explosion-in-russia-a-few-days-ago/838642>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [August 14, 2019, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-mysterious-nuclear-related-explosion-in-russia-a-few-days-ago/838642 "2019-08-14T04:32:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2019, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-mysterious-nuclear-related-explosion-in-russia-a-few-days-ago/838642/1 "2019-08-14T04:32:50Z")

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I didn’t see a thread here, and the fact that the Russians are giving conflicting information and seem to be going out of their way to cover this up, despite massive evidence to the contrary, says to me that this was much, much worse than anyone not directly in the know can imagine.

Rachel Maddow devoted the first segment of her program to this story - about how they said 5 were dead, and then 2 were dead, and that they were nuclear scientists, and then they were just people who worked there, and similar things going on regarding evacuations of nearby towns, etc.

This is probably the most reliable link I can find.

> **[What we know about deadly radiation explosion at Russian military site](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/what-we-know-about-deadly-radiation-explosion-at-russian-military-site)**
>
> An explosion at a Russian missile testing site last week killed at least seven people and caused widespread fears of a radiation leak. While officials offered little clarity, analysts believe the Russians were testing a nuclear-powered cruise missile...

This (allegedly) happened before the cover-up kicked into high gear.

> **[Russian nuclear engineers buried after ‘Skyfall nuclear’ blast](https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/8/13/russian-nuclear-engineers-buried-after-skyfall-nuclear-blast)**
>
> Experts link the explosion to the Burevestnik nuclear-powered cruise missile touted by President Putin in March 2018.

You can see the shockwave in this video. I’d like to know the kilotonnage of that explosive force.

[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-m0fDeQl94c)

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**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2019, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-mysterious-nuclear-related-explosion-in-russia-a-few-days-ago/838642/2 "2019-08-14T05:07:50Z")

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For a sufficiently intense explosion in atmosphere, the radius of the blast wave will be proportional to the 2/5 power of time and to the 1/5 power of energy; if you can tabulate the expansion of the shock wave as a function of time in milliseconds we should be able to estimate the explosive force.

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**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\
**Post date:** [August 14, 2019, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-mysterious-nuclear-related-explosion-in-russia-a-few-days-ago/838642/3 "2019-08-14T05:54:08Z")

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That [isn’t](https://taskandpurpose.com/russian-arms-depot-siberia-explosion-video) [the same](https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/one-dead-seven-wounded-including-a-child-with-shrapnel-wounds-and-burns/) [explosion](https://siberiantimes.com/other/others/news/homes-burnt-to-ashes-shells-in-the-streets-as-residents-of-achinsk-return-home/).