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Russia Conducts Test of Nuclear-Powered Cruise Missile

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The test is the thirteenth to date to involve the experimental Burevestnik.


Russia conducted a partially successful test of its developmental nuclear-powered cruise missile, the Burevestnik, on January 29, 2019, according to U.S. government sources with knowledge of Russia’s weapons programs who spoke to the The Diplomat. The test took place at Russia’s Kapustin Yar missile test range and is the thirteenth to date involving the missile.

The test marks the first involving the Burevestnik in nearly one year. The missile had not been tested since February 2018. According to one source, U.S. intelligence assesses that Russia’s development efforts on the missile continues. The United States intelligence community internally calls the missile the KY30 or the SSC-X-9 SKYFALL.

The Burevestnik was first tested at Kapustin Yar in June 2016. According to U.S. military intelligence, only one test of the missile has been moderately successful to date. That test took place in November 2017 from Russia’s Pank’ovo test site in Novaya Zemlya and resulted in recovery mission involving specialized Russian ship crews to retrieve the missile’s debris and nuclear materials from the Barents Sea after a crash.

In a speech unveiling a suite of new missile systems before the Russian Federal Assembly in March 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin noted that “In late 2017, Russia successfully launched its latest nuclear-powered missile at the Central training ground.”

He continued that “during its flight, the nuclear-powered engine reached its design capacity and provided the necessary propulsion.” He additionally claimed that the missile’s range was “unlimited” and that it could “maneuver for as long as necessary.”

No country has to date deployed a cruise missile using an on-board nuclear reactor, largely given the engineering challenges and safety concerns involved. In the late-1950s, the United States began development on prototype nuclear-powered ramjet engines as part of Project Pluto, but none of those missiles were ever deployed.

The Burevestnik was announced by Putin alongside a range of new nuclear weapons in his March 2018 address. Some of the other weapons include the Avangard, a hypersonic boost-glide reentry vehicle, the Poseidon, an autonomous thermonuclear torpedo, the Sarmat, a new intercontinental-range ballistic missile, and the Kinzhal, an air-launched ballistic missile.

The January test of the Burevestnik comes shortly after the release of the United States’ 2019 Missile Defense Review, which called for the development of a range of new technologies to augment existing U.S. defensive capabilities against cruise and ballistic missile threats. In March 2018, Putin justified Russia’s development of the Burevestnik and other new systems in terms of growing Russian concerns about U.S. missile defense capabilities.


https://thediplomat.com/2019/02/russia-conducts-test-of-nuclear-powered-cruise-missile/
 
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Yikes I hope they are properly cleaning up the failed tests
 
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Not like they would be using actual nukes on the missles...

A nuclear weapon isn't required to spread radiation. The article states they have special teams for this.
 
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Not like they would be using actual nukes on the missles...
But the missile is supposedly nuclear powered. So there will be a miniature nuclear reactor somewhere at the bottom of the Barents straight, and unless the missile has landing gear, future tests will probably result in crashed missiles in random locations leaking radiation as well.
 
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A nuclear weapon isn't required to spread radiation. The article states they have special teams for this.

Then what's the worry about?

But the missile is supposedly nuclear powered. So there will be a miniature nuclear reactor somewhere at the bottom of the Barents straight, and unless the missile has landing gear, future tests will probably result in crashed missiles in random locations leaking radiation as well.

I'm sure that radiation won't be that harmful to the surroundings or humans. They would have made sure to not use harmful isotopes.
 
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Then what's the worry about?



I'm sure that radiation won't be that harmful to the surroundings or humans. They would have made sure to not use harmful isotopes.

The miniature nuclear reactor powering the Burevestnik, depending on how advanced the Russians are in this area, would be fueled by either one of the Uranium Oxides or the superior Uranium Nitrides which NASA uses in its advanced experimental SAFE 400 reactors. Probably the former (oxide), but either way the isotope used won't be safe. If the missile crashes on land and the reactor core is exposed there could be leakage or worse explosive dispersion of the radioactive fuel.
 
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The miniature nuclear reactor powering the Burevestnik, depending on how advanced the Russians are in this area, would be fueled by either one of the Uranium Oxides or the superior Uranium Nitrides which NASA uses in its advanced experimental SAFE 400 reactors. Probably the former (oxide), but either way the isotope used won't be safe. If the missile crashes on land and the reactor core is exposed there could be leakage or worse explosive dispersion of the radioactive fuel.

I'm sure the Russians would have thought of this beforehand. Why would they put such a dangerous engine on a CM then?
 
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I'm sure the Russians would have thought of this beforehand. Why would they put such a dangerous engine on a CM then?

These are Russians we're talking about, safety and environmental issues aren't exactly their biggest priorities, even with nuclear material. They obviously decided to test the missile over the sea and away from populated areas to limit potential radioactive contamination, but the tests to date have been failures.
 
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