7 dead in Russian nuclear missile test.

Vladimir Putin shows a video during the 2018 State of the Union address touting new nuclear missiles. New York Times/Getty.

Seven people have died in a nuclear missile test in Russia. New York Times. The incident happened in the White Sea where scientists were testing the reactor for the new SSC-X-9 "Skyfall" nuclear cruise missile. The missile is designed with a small nuclear reactor which greatly extends its range and allows it to evade conventional anti-ballistic missile technology. Russia has said that the incident was due to a fire but several sources found radiation spikes in the region. It is unclear how far along the SSC-X-9 is and this disaster will likely be a huge setback for the program. 

My Comment:

Yet another embarrassing military disaster for Russia. They have had a series of deadly accidents this year with their military systems. Their aircraft carrier was damaged and their drydocks destroyed due to fires and they also had a major fire at an ammo dump that caused some massive explosions. This is just the latest disaster and it brings into question Russian military and scientific competence. 

The Skyfall (great reporting name by the way) is an interesting concept to be sure. With a nuclear powered reactor it would essentially have unlimited range. It would also be able to evade anti-ballistic missile systems as it would hug the ground. There would be no known defense against such a missile which explains why the Russians are so interested in it. 

However, the United States considered the same technology in the 1960's with Project Pluto. That project was successful but the United States abandoned it because of cost and how provocative it was. 

I also wonder that if the weapon would even work if it would be a dirty weapon. And by that I mean would it be spraying radiation on it's path to it's target? I guess it wouldn't matter too much as if the Skyfall was ever launched it would be a nuclear war anyways but still, it's making a bad problem worse. 

America was able to make it work but so far Russia has not been able to. If America was able to get a test engine working the Russians should have been able to as well. However they have not been all that competent lately so it hasn't worked out for them. 

This disaster is potentially  horrible one. The people that died may have died from radiation poisoning. Death by radiation is one of the worst possible ways to go. My sincere hope is that the seven people that died in this disaster died quickly and with a minimum of suffering. It's going to be very difficult to clean up as well and may well be an environmental disaster. 

I do wonder if Russia will reconsider this program after this incident. It must have cost a fortune and it failed completely. Russia has a large conventional nuclear weapons program so it doesn't make too much sense to develop new weapons. There is a good chance that they won't want to throw good money after bad in the wake if this accident.