Sujet

The Elephants Foot of the Chernobyl disaster.

Légende

The Elephants Foot of the Chernobyl disaster. In the immediate aftermath of the meltdown, a few minutes near this object, would bring certain death. today, it is still radioactive. heat and death, though its power has weakened. The Chernobyl disaster happened at 1:23 a.m. on April 26, 1986, when extremely hot nuclear fuel rods were lowered into cooling water, an immense amount of steam was created, which — because of the reactors’ design flaws — created more reactivity in the nuclear core of reactor number 4. The resultant power surge caused an immense explosion that detached the 1,000-ton plate covering the reactor core, releasing radiation into the atmosphere and cutting off the flow of coolant into the reactor. The “Elephant’s Foot” is a solid mass made of melted nuclear fuel mixed with lots and lots of concrete, sand, and core sealing material that the fuel had melted through. It is located in a basement area under the original location of the core.

Date

1986

Crédit

Photo12/Ann Ronan Picture Library

Notre référence

ARP17A13_261

Licence

Droits gérés

Format disponible

60,0Mo (1,9Mo) / 46,8cm x 32,1cm / 5528 x 3794 (300dpi)

Mots clés

Elephants Foot Chernobyl disaster meltdown radioactive heat