Nyonoksa, the 'radioactive town': they cancel the evacuation but some neighbors leave
The Russian government says the evacuation had nothing to do with the accident, but is due to military operations that it has finally decided to cancel
Two women play with their children on the shore of the North Dvina River, in the Severodvinsk region. Sergei Bobylev GETTY IMAGES
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Part of the neighbors of Nyonoksa, the Russian town located next to the place where a rocket engine with radioactive material exploded on Thursday, have begun to leave the town after the evacuation request made yesterday by the Russian authorities and later canceled. The town, with half a thousand inhabitants in summer, is located along the coast of the Onega Bay of the White Sea. The Government said that the evacuation had nothing to do with the accident, but that it is due to military operations that it has finally decided to cancel, so that the trains that were to be taken to half a thousand inhabitants have not emptied the settlement.
"It is not clear if they evacuate today or they will do it tomorrow or later," explains Marina Vasilieva, a resident. Some neighbors of this town located next to the Russian Arctic have moved to neighboring towns to dachas or summer houses in the forest, taking advantage that the bad weather has not yet begun. Far from the coast, they wait for the situation to be clarified.
The town depends administratively on Severodvinsk, a town located about 30 kilometers. There the radiation levels in the city increased up to 16 times after the explosion of the cruise missile (provided with an isotopic power supply) as indicated on Tuesday by the Russian Meteorological Service: "At 12.00 Moscow time (09.00 GMT) of August 8, 2019 in six of eight Severodvinsk measurement points there was an increase in the radiation dose range between 4 and 16 times compared to the usual level for this territory. " But "life in Nyonoksa and in neighboring settlements continues as usual, people are calm," Irina Zamiatina, a neighbor of Severodvinsk, tells EL MUNDO.
The village of Nyonoksa, of little more than half a thousand inhabitants, is next to the polygon where what according to US specialists exploded could be a Burevestnik cruise missile. Only two kilometers away there is a rocket launching platform of the Russian Navy that bears the same name. The accident killed seven people, including five engineers from Rosatom, the Russian atomic agency, who worked on the project.
On the day of the accident, Severodvinsk authorities admitted an increase in radiation in the area, but stressed that it was temporary. According to a note from the City Council, two hours after registering said increase, the radiation level was "0.11 microsievert per hour with a maximum allowed of 0.60 microsievert".
It is still unclear what military activities were planned and why an evacuation was announced so quickly to cancel it tonight. "It is not the first time they have invited us to leave the area for a while, for us it is a routine," Irina adds. Aleksandr Nikitin, a researcher at the Norwegian environmental group Bellona and a nuclear safety specialist, said in an interview with 'The New York Times' that the Russian military might be trying to rescue the damaged seafloor reactor. Some neighbors, such as Aleksei, have gone out into the forest with their dosimeters and have detected high values, although variable depending on the measurement point.
The explosion on Thursday has upset the tranquility of the area. Also in the most important city in the region, Arjangelsk, until a few days ago worried only about the hot water cuts planned for these days. Doctors from the Regional Clinical Hospital, after treating the victims of the missile explosion, discovered that their gowns and other materials were making the radiation meters give high values, according to the Seberny Novosti website. The doctors have been taken to Moscow to be examined and the places where they treated the sick have been sealed.
The governor of the Arjangelsk region, Igor Orlov, interrupted his visit to the Ustyansky district, where he was to preside over the 'Lumberjack of the 21st Century' championship and said there was no reason to go into "panic." He was trying to placate a concern that had skyrocketed after some neighbors said the military had informed them that an evacuation would take place today Wednesday morning. The information was immediately leaked to social networks and the media. Authorities acknowledged that it was true, but unlinked the transfer and explosion on Thursday