A few months ago, CNN released satellite images of the Russian-made “Skyfall” nuclear-powered cruise missile, claiming that there were “many clues from which to infer that Moscow was preparing for testing.” In large part, the news went unnoticed in the Italian press.
The Skyfall or Burevestinik, a land-launched cruise missile, is a nuclear warhead vector powered by an onboard nuclear reactor. In his 2018 annual speech, Vladimir Putin spoke of it as an unstoppable nuclear-powered cruise missile with an almost unlimited range, designed to overcome any ballistic missile defense that the United States could deploy.
The Russian tests of the Burevestnik are carried out in two locations and, from what it is said, Moscow is inclined to test its nuclear-powered system in the northernmost area of the Novaya Zemlya (New Earth) archipelago within the Arctic Circle. Since that location has cold temperatures and difficult conditions, the window for carrying out the tests is very short and in the past Moscow has used the period between mid-August and early November. According to some calculations, by 2035 the waters of the Russian Arctic will be among the most nuclear in the world.
But what are the environmental risks related to radiation that a missile armed with an atomic warhead and nuclear propulsion could cause? How transparent is Russia in the handling of nuclear waste and materials?
The Burevestnik nuclear-powered missile before launch
These questions took on particular relevance especially after August 2019, when the sensors of the Russian International Monitoring System went off. Furthermore, Moscow has not reported anything about the Burevestnik incident, concealing the real impact of its nuclear explosion. In truth, according to reports from the international press, the Skyfall missile tests have failed several times (we are talking about at least 14 tests so far, each of which ended in an explosion), and they would have caused the death of several scientists working on the missile system design. While the loss of life was dramatic, the fallout from the explosion in the surrounding area caused radiation levels to rise nearly 200 times normal. According to the information website “Russian Open Media”, the regional administration on 13 August 2019 announced a tender for the purchase of 1200 gas masks capable of guaranteeing protection from “radioactive, toxic, biological and dangerous chemicals attributable to man-made accidents ».
At the time, the New York Times described the tragedy as “one of the worst nuclear accidents in the area since Chernobyl”. The Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta had dubbed the carrier “a little flying Chernobyl,” while nuclear expert Jeffrey Lewis of the Middlebury Institute for International Studies in Monterey bluntly dubbed Burevestnik a “shitty madness.”
In itself, the presence of radioactive and nuclear material in the Arctic already poses a serious threat to the marine environment and local activities, primarily fishing. If a nuclear-powered missile exploded there, it would also spread the radiation over large regions of Eurasia.
Despite all these dangers, President Putin was adamant and, at the ceremony to commemorate the scientists who lost their lives in the failed Skyfall tests, he declared: “This weapon must be perfected, whatever the cost.”
Russia’s well-known inability to efficiently manage the Soviet nuclear legacy, coupled with its lack of ability to deal with an emergency in the Arctic in a timely manner, sets the stage for possible massive environmental damage and raises security concerns. This means that, if Moscow continues to develop the Burovestnik project, it will put at risk not only the scientists directly involved in the development of this weapon, but also the populations and ecosystems of the surrounding territories where radiation could spread in quantity. huge.
Translation by Anna Bissanti
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