I have no idea!! ....... certainly wouldn't like to be anywhere near that though! That's some serious munitions going up in smoke!!
https://youtu.be/Ox3EL9caJrU
Mass explosion at a munitions depot in Ukraine earlier this week.
Footage of specific explosion 2.07+ in.. is that a nuke going off?
Certainly has the flash bang and mushroom formation.
Anyone know about this sort of thing care to hazard an opinion?
Last edited by verv; 29th March 2017 at 16:54.
I have no idea!! ....... certainly wouldn't like to be anywhere near that though! That's some serious munitions going up in smoke!!
Verv, I can't say if that is a nuclear explosion, but conventional explosions can certainly produce a mushroom cloud like that. We studied them at Uni.
Don't know if that helps.
Big ass bangs but nothing visibly nuclear here!
no not nuclear, there would have been a blinding white flash and even with a zoom on the camera that guy would have been close enough to be evaporated.
Doesn't a nuclear device require a trigger to activate it?
Eddie
Whole chunks of my life come under the heading "it seemed like a good idea at the time".
The trigger on a fission (atom) bomb is a conventional explosive charge forcing sub critical materials together. A Thermonuclear device uses a fission bomb as a trigger for a fusion reaction.
Or at least that was the case when I used to read spy novels. After 'The Fourth Protocol' I convinced myself I was an expert in the field. At ten years old.
Mmm. I hope it wasn't but the white flash was present which is somewhat alarming.
Id only just managed to convince my cohort that Chernobyl was fine radiationwise. Less keen on fresh nuke tourism!
Im going to have a read-up later but quite glad that mushrooming can have other causes.
Thankfully Ive never seen a nuclear explosion but looking at various clips on YouTube I would say that this doesn't look like one of them - even a very small one like the W54 hand launched one deployed during the Cold War.
It would have been worldwide news if it was a nuke Im sure.
Looks like HE rather than a nuke, C.
Although I wonder if there was any white phos?
I'm no expert.
Yes and they have failsafe mechanisms, probably lots of them!
There is a theory that the Russian gulf sub that sank in the Atlantic (later attempted to be raised by the Hughes Glomar explorer, another fascinating story) went down as some rogue agents tried to launch nukes but the failsafe destructed them and sank the sub. Book investigating it is called red star rogue if anyone wants a read :)
They do seem to have a few incidents out there (I don't think this is the same one, but it may be):
Just a respectably sized "normal" bang, that one.
Even a small field tactical device would have flattened everything well within the radius of where that chap was filming from.
What with the Dashcam Vids of car accidents and the odd Ammo dump going up like this, I think I'll be giving the place a miss for holidays this year! :)
Mushroom clouds can happen with any big bang, not just nuclear.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mushroom_cloud
What i really like, is the little curly one just before the big one
Plenty of monitoring organisations around the world would have picked up the effects of a nuclear explosion.
Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app
When i lived in Johannesburg in the 80s and 90s, i can recall there were explosions at the Modderfontein explosives factory on a near regular basis, dangerous places to work.
Definitely nuclear, apparently just moments before it went off Putin was seen in the vicinity with box of matches. He is now missing, presumed dead.
Last edited by VDG; 31st March 2017 at 13:08.
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Just a little - 40+ years in the nuclear business.
Sent from my iPad using TZ-UK mobile app
'Nobody is entirely sure' - see we've been warned just before it happened!
http://www.independent.co.uk/life-st...-a7591886.htmlMysterious radiation spreading across Europe after authorities keep it secret
The unusual activity could be coming from a secret Russian nuclear missile launch, or from a hidden pharmaceutical business, but nobody is entirely sure
Fas est ab hoste doceri
Worrying! Or is it....fake news about a secret nuclear meltdown?
Definitely conventional chemical explosion in my view.
For something that looks way more suspicious (but is still a large conventional explosion) see this one:
Don't take the title ('Confirmed - Israeli - Saudi Arabia Tactical Nuclear Strike on Yemen (Neutron Bomb)') seriously -- it's the usual YouTube exaggeration and gossip-mongering. The explosion is the result of multiple laser guided bombs, possibly bunker busters, hitting an underground arms dump. The big explosion is possibly channeled upwards through a shaft or opening when the stored explosives cook off. The bombs are probably Saudi (dropped by Saudi aircraft, I mean). There are what appear to be several other views of this event on YouTube.
Last edited by markrlondon; 30th March 2017 at 20:51. Reason: Added clarification on source of bombs ;-)
Indeed Saudis are well known for producing their own PGMs ;)
Fas est ab hoste doceri
I don't think it's intentionally generated fake news as such, just misreported, exaggerated and confused news, passed on mostly in ignorance of the original report.
It seems to me that the creators of intentional propaganda fake news saw how news like this can spread through whispers, misunderstandings and exaggerations via the meta-network of social media and have capitalised on it to spread their destabilising messages.
As a related aside, there are two interesting reports about USAF nuke sniffers here:
U.S. Air Force deploys WC-135 nuclear sniffer aircraft to UK as spike of radioactive Iodine levels is detected in Europe
U.S. WC-135 nuclear sniffer airplane has left the UK heading towards Norway and the Barents Sea
See the comments to the above two blog posts to see a combination of the occasional rational or informed comment and a mass of paranoia, exaggeration and nutcasery.
I am not impressed by the quality of the Independent's journalism so this probably means nothing but the article contains to my mind a potentially very interesting snippet:
It seems to me completely implausible that Russia would run any kind of 'secret' (not-secret-at-all, in fact) nuclear test in northern Norway! What an absurd suggestion. Russia has a massive land area in which to test stuff where it could be far more secret.the spread appeared emanate from northern Norway, where Russia may have run a secret nuclear test.
Of course, the whole Halden Iodine-131 leak thing could be the 'real' fake news being generated to cover up the truth (whatever that might be, e.g. unauthorised test, more serious leak, etc.) but to my mind that fails the relative likelihood test, i.e. Occam's Razor.
Last edited by markrlondon; 30th March 2017 at 20:56.
Looks like a lot of small explosions, a few self propelled incidents and then a huge high order event, probably an entire storehouse going up.
There's been quite a few events like this before, just look at the Cyprus issue with seized cargo containers, or Holland with fireworks. You'd be amazed at the violence of a reaction you get if you pack enough explosive articles tight enough and keep them in confinement!
I am not a nuclear physicist but...
There are two current sorts of nuclear fission weapon: Gun type and implosion type. Gun type has mostly been superseded by implosion type but gun type may still be used in devices that are to be contained in limited space, such as nuclear artillery shells or atomic demolition munitions (i.e. 'suitcase' nukes). What you refer to above is the implosion type.
In an implosion type device, the sphere of plutonium is hollow and in its natural arrangement is sub-critical. When detonated, a set of conventional high explosive shaped charges surrounding the hollow sphere are used to compress it into a much more dense form. This new form is supercritical and a run away nuclear fission chain reaction ensues. Additionally, the supercritical mass must be exposed to a neutron source at the key moment (not too soon and not too late).
Historically a lot of secrecy surrounds triggering mechanisms, neutron source technology (although more detailed information on this seems to have become available recently), and explosive shaped charge lens design.
P.S. For pics of a plutonium implosion core and an interesting, if horrific, story, see this Wikipedia article: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demon_core
Last edited by markrlondon; 30th March 2017 at 22:53.
Interesting to have the opinion of someone who actually knows the subject, rather that simply regurgitating paragraphs of google-fu and wikipediatrics!
I remember my O level physics teacher telling us that it's actually incredibly difficult to produce a nuclear explosion in the sense of levelling cities as per Hiroshima/Nagasaki. The theory is very straightforward, but in practice very complex, as a supercritical (as opposed to critical) mass requires a high density of highly enriched fuel, which pretty much immediately blows itself apart and halts the runaway chain reaction. (That's not to stop someone simply blowing up a quantity of radioactive material to spread it over a large area, or even a "fizzle"). A nuclear power station in meltdown simply gets very very hot but it's (practically) impossible for it to go up like an nuclear bomb. The danger is more down to fire, the containment failing and releasing nuclear fuel and waste into the environment.
I guess this is why (luckily for the world) the basics of nuclear weapon design aren't "dangerous knowledge" (unlike eg how to make poisons from household products). Even at national-level, very few organisations can produce a viable bomb.
It also shows what an incredible scientific achievement the Manhattan Project was in the 40's.
We used to look after Chernobyl children some years ago they would stay with us for 1 month we would give them a rest bite build them up on food + treats, access to basic medical treatment + dentistry that month trip of decent food + decent air could boost and extend a young life by 2 years in some cases, don't ask me how I don't know.
One little girl we had stay with us needed to see a doctor she was so poorly with a chest infection she had no immune system left to fight it, When she arrived the wife gave her a warm bath she was 9 and weighed less than 3 stone she was a bag of the bones the wife said, her parents had sent her in the hope she could be helped, my wife's a No Nonsense strong women but she cried after seeing her, our friend was a GP so she was able to sort her out with antibiotics simple drugs but out of the parents reach financially, after 2 weeks of good basics she was up and about she had gained weight.
Anna (26) the leader of a group recalled the day the explosion happened while she visited us at our home, she also explained what was to happen some days/weeks after.
She was about 6 years old and playing out side it was a lovely sunny day, she'd been out most of the day playing, she remembers a strange taste in her mouth like a rusty metal, her mother called her in for something to eat, she remembers her mother asking if she been sunbathing, when she looked in the mirror she was a deep red colour like she had been sunbathing but with out the pain associated with sunburn.
The metal taste in her mouth was more intense inside her home, all the food and water she consumed for weeks/months after had the same taste, she and her friends became quite poorly, she was 26 years when she visited us, she died 3 years later, she'd been told her life would be cut short and not to have any babies all so matter of fact, so she poured her energy into other other children 1 generation on who where still suffering because of the contamination.
They have tours around the area, Anna looked at the pictures of her school the playground the houses in the dead zone she remembered them all, if anyone ever goes on a tour, please try to remember Anna that little girl playing out blissfully unaware of what devastation was ahead of her.
I heard similar stories from the children that we used to have visiting. It was as part of the charity Chernobyl Children's Lifeline as I remember?
Incredible seeing the difference in their health after a month of proper food, dentistry and health care. Apart from the heartbreaking stories like the one related above, I also found it affecting taking them on trips to the supermarket and the children could not comprehend why all this food was lying around with nobody eating it.
Wow Mark mate, that's a horrendous story. You should take deep pride in the fact that you helped those kids.
No way this is a nuclear explosion. Everything round would be wiped out. Look, there is drone footage... the surrounding isn't very damaged.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dFVT8OK5OPc