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Time of India
12-05-2025
- Science
- Time of India
A 1,000-X-ray blob: Why Chernobyl's Elephant's Foot still terrifies scientists
Nearly four decades after the Chernobyl disaster, the remnants of Reactor No. 4, especially the Elephant's Foot—a dense, highly radioactive mass formed from molten core materials—remain a powerful symbol of the nuclear accident's enduring danger. Rare footage from the 1980s and 1990s captured by radiation experts shows the extreme conditions inside the reactor's basement. Despite time and decay, the site continues to pose a threat, serving as a chilling reminder of the long-lasting impact of radiation exposure. Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads A silent killer made of stone and fire Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads The brave who filmed the unfilmable Radiation on film and memory A disaster still unfolding Tired of too many ads? Remove Ads War reawakens the danger In 1986, a nuclear explosion rocked Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl power plant. In the immediate aftermath, radiation swept across what was then the Soviet Union. Among the remnants of the disaster was the formation of one of the deadliest objects on Earth—now known as the 'Elephant's Foot'. This mass of nuclear sludge, born from molten core material and reactor debris, still lies beneath the plant, a haunting symbol of the world's worst nuclear after the meltdown, strange molten structures began forming in the plant's lower levels. One such mass—shaped eerily like the foot of an elephant—solidified into what scientists later identified as corium. A searing combination of uranium, zirconium, graphite, steel, and sand, this highly radioactive sludge oozed its way through the reactor's pipes before cooling in the its peak, the Elephant's Foot emitted over 10,000 roentgens of radiation per hour—enough to kill a human in minutes. Experts likened the exposure to enduring 4.5 million chest X-rays in one sitting. Early symptoms of exposure included vomiting, diarrhoea, and fever. Scientists said being near it for five minutes could have resulted in death within two today, while the radiation has decayed, the site remains dangerous. The corium is now 'more or less has the consistency of sand,' said Maxim Saveliev from the Institute for Safety Problems of Nuclear Power despite its lethality, several individuals ventured close enough to photograph and study it—often at great personal of the most iconic recordings was made in 1996 by Artur Korneyev , a Kazakhstani radiation specialist. Donning a hazmat suit, he and his team descended into the flooded, rust-streaked depths beneath Reactor 4. The footage he captured is grainy, ghostly, and claustrophobic—filled with metallic remnants and spider webs. But at its centre sits the Elephant's Foot.'We had to use a Kalashnikov to chip pieces off,' said one scientist, referring to how dense the corium had later joked about his condition from radiation exposure : 'Soviet radiation is the best radiation in the world,' he told The New York Times. He is believed to have died in 2022 at age years after the disaster, physics technician Alexander Kupny volunteered to document Reactor 4's remains. In 1989, he ventured inside multiple times, managing to avoid acute radiation syndrome by limiting exposure. Kupny's footage, often taken from behind thick concrete or with remote cameras, has circulated online. Viewers noted how radiation warped the footage.'The white specks on screen is not the camera quality, but in fact the radiation messing with the film/camera itself,' commented one viewer on YouTube.'These folks sacrificed their own health and potentially their own life to record footage of this disaster. Mad respect,' said earlier, just days after the explosion, Soviet filmmaker Vladimir Shevchenko filmed the 30-kilometre Exclusion Zone from above. His 35mm footage carried ghostly static and distortion. It was only later that he understood: he had captured radiation itself on long-term impact of Chernobyl is grim. The United Nations reported that over 400,000 people were relocated from the surrounding areas. More than 500,000 firefighters and cleanup personnel were exposed to high radiation. While 31 died in the immediate aftermath, estimates of eventual deaths range between 4,000 and 60,000. Thousands of thyroid cancer cases have been traced back to contamination from the four other known corium formations have ever emerged during nuclear meltdowns in history. None have the notoriety or public recognition of the Elephant's the decades that have passed, Chernobyl remains a flashpoint. In 2022, during Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russian troops took control of the plant—raising alarms worldwide. Ukrainian staff warned that if the generators failed, the consequences 'could have been catastrophic.' Reports emerged that Russian soldiers dug trenches in the Exclusion Zone and may have been exposed to 'significant doses' of again, the world was reminded: Chernobyl is not in the is still a wound, open and radioactive.
New York Times
25-03-2025
- Politics
- New York Times
How a Cheap Drone Punctured Chernobyl's 40,000 Ton Shield
Eric Schmieman worked for 15 years on the modern engineering equivalent of the Great Pyramid — building a giant protective shield for a damaged reactor at Chernobyl that would protect the world from further fallout from the worst ever nuclear disaster. The steel shell, slid into place over Reactor No. 4 on railroad tracks in 2016, is the world's largest movable structure. It is as tall as a football field and weighs almost 40,000 tons. More than 45 countries and organizations spent almost $1.7 billion building it. 'We did a lot of safety analysis, considering a lot of bad things that could happen,' said Mr. Schmieman, 78, a retired civil engineer from Washington state who was a senior technical adviser on the project. 'We considered earthquakes, tornadoes, heavy winds, 100-year snowfalls, all kinds of things. We didn't consider acts of war.' On Feb. 14, a drone with a high-explosive warhead that likely cost as little as $20,000 to produce punched a hole in the steel shell. Ukrainian officials said the Russians deliberately targeted the structure with a Shahed 136 drone. The Kremlin has denied responsibility. While the initial fire was quickly put out, a waterproof membrane inside the insulation of the arch burned and smoldered for almost three weeks, said Artem Siryi, the head of the operations department for the structure, called the New Safe Confinement. Emergency workers in mountain-climbing equipment had to knock holes into the shield's outer layer, hunting for the fire, and spray water inside a structure designed to stay dry to prevent corrosion, Ukrainian officials and international experts said. Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
