Report: Russia's nuclear-powered 'Skyfall' missile is dirty and dangerous

Published June 18, 2026 · Category: News

Overview

A missile is shot from a Russian island in the Arctic Circle on Oct. 21, 2025. The new weapon, known in Russian as Burevestnik and by NATO as Skyfall, was powered by a small nuclear reactor.

MIT researchers think they've worked out exactly how Russia's Burevestnik nuclear-powered missile flies. "It's almost certainly a terrible idea," one analyst said. "But it's not an impossible idea."

Details

(Image credit: Russian Ministry of Defense)

Source

Originally published at www.npr.org.

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