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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 18 ต.ค. 2024
- On the night of April 25th to 26th in the year 1986, humanity witnessed the occurrence of the worst disaster in the history of civilian nuclear facilities.
Not only the Soviet Union, but the entire continent of Europe, found itself enveloped by an enormous radioactive cloud!
Regardless of how much the Soviet government tried to conceal the magnitude of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident, the devastation was so immense and evident that they eventually had no choice but to acknowledge the truth.
Perhaps you are aware of this event from the HBO series, and we have also covered this accident several times before.
But today, we would like to unravel another mystery surrounding Chernobyl.
Today, we will be discussing a terrifying object that still lurks beneath the Chernobyl sarcophagus.
"Elephant's Foot"
Please take a look at this photograph.
This picture was taken in 1996 and is preserved in the archives of the U.S. Department of Energy.
Doesn't it look like a scene from a ghost movie?
However, this is not a special effect; it was captured by a photographer using a slow shutter speed to get himself in the frame.
As you can see, the person wearing a helmet in the photo is the photographer.
This individual is Artur Korneyev, the deputy director of the Shelter facility.
The "Shelter" refers to the first sarcophagus that covered Reactor 4 just 206 days after the accident.
Mr. Korneyev is taking a selfie near a mysterious glowing object that looks like a giant mushroom.
"Composition of the Elephant's Foot"
In order to at least understand the composition of the "Elephant's Foot," it was decided to study this mass despite the risks.
A cart carrying a drill was brought in, but the material was so hard that the drill was useless.
Additionally, near this several-ton mass of strange substance, no electronic device would function properly.
Therefore, researchers became increasingly determined to obtain a sample of this material.
A volunteer helper was found who would use an axe to chip off a piece of the solidified lava.
However, this attempt also failed, and the volunteer soldier was exposed to a massive dose of radiation, forcing him to evacuate from Chernobyl.
Even Thor, with his mythical hammer, might not have succeeded in this task.
The problem was ultimately solved by a sniper, who shot armor-piercing bullets into the object, managing to obtain a sample for analysis.
Corium
How and why did the molten lava of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant come into existence?
The fuel of this nuclear power plant consisted of uranium dioxide pellets, which were inserted into zirconium fuel rods.
These rods containing the fuel are referred to as fuel elements.
Within these fuel elements, a controlled nuclear reaction takes place, but in Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl power plant, this reaction went out of control.
While radioactive ash began to be released into the air, something even more terrifying was happening inside the reactor.
In some areas, the temperature exceeded 2,600 degrees Celsius, causing one-third of the reactor core to melt into a mass within seconds.
The fuel rods melted, and the entire mass flowed to the bottom of the reactor.
Over the next eight days, this lava flowed out of the damaged reactor, interacting with everything it came into contact with, including the serpentine protective insulation shield, concrete, sand, and other materials.
Legendary Feat
The suppression pool is a tank filled with water, where excess steam from the reactor is discharged in case of an emergency.
Imagine what would happen if the heated corium entered this water!
The water would instantly turn into steam, causing a massive explosion.
If that had happened, the situation would have become even more dire.
This issue was understood immediately after the accident, and three individuals donned diving suits and headed to the flooded area beneath the reactor.
Now hailed as heroes of Ukraine, plant workers Boris Baranov, Valery Bespalov, and Alexei Ananenko moved through the partially submerged power plant to open the gate valves and drain the water from the suppression pool.
They worked in the dark, with only two dosimeters and protective masks that offered minimal protection against radiation.
Fate of the "Elephant's Foot"
The feats of those involved in the cleanup were not just random acts.
This became clear six months after the accident when a six-square-meter "Elephant's Foot" was discovered in the area of the suppression pool.
Initially, it was thought to be molten lead.
This assumption was made because lead had been poured into the reactor to mitigate the damage immediately after the accident.
However, it was determined to be 11 tons of corium, which continues to undergo radioactive decay while emitting heat.
As a result, the "Elephant's Foot" is slightly warmer than its surroundings.
Over time, the "Elephant's Foot" has lost its solidity and begun to crumble, turning into a mass of sand.
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