On August 8, 2019, an explosion of a military missile occurred at the Nenoksa (also transcribed as Nyonoksa) Missile Test Center (Russian Federation). Russian authorities confirmed a release of radioactive material in the course of this incident, which fueled rumors that it could have involved a nuclear‐propelled missile of the Burevestnik/Skyfall type. In this study, our radioanalytical efforts are summarized searching for the “smoking gun” of the incident. These included the gamma‐measurements of air filters from two vessels that were in some proximity to the event as well as one Greek high‐volume air filter. In addition, we tested the hypothesis that radioactive ⁴²Ar may have been used to operate a radiothermal generator. If the incident had released ⁴²Ar, it may have become detectable by measuring characteristic gamma radiation emitted from a tank containing liquefied atmospheric argon. No traces whatsoever were found that could provide clues about the release. It is possible that the presumably small amounts of radionuclides released from either a small nuclear reactor or a powerful radionuclide source dispersed quickly over Russian territory to non‐detectable levels before reaching any of our assayed samples.

中文翻译：

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寻找携带错误的2019年Nenoksa核巡航导弹测试的“烟枪”：空结果

2019年8月8日，在Nenoksa（也称为Nyonoksa）导弹测试中心（俄罗斯联邦）发生了一枚军用导弹爆炸。俄罗斯当局确认在此事件期间释放了放射性物质，这有谣传说它可能涉及Burevestnik / Skyfall型核动力导弹。在这项研究中，我们对放射分析的努力进行了总结，以寻找事件的“烟枪”。这些措施包括对距活动较近的两艘船只以及一台希腊大容量空气过滤器进行的空气过滤器的伽马测量。此外，我们检验了放射性⁴² Ar可能已被用来操作放射热发生器的假设。如果事件已释放⁴²Ar，可以通过测量从装有液化大气氩气的储罐发出的特征性伽玛射线来检测。没有发现任何痕迹可以提供有关该版本的线索。可能是从小型核反应堆或强大的放射性核素源释放的少量放射性核素，在到达我们的任何分析样品之前，迅速散布在俄罗斯领土上，达到不可检测的水平。