In it most hidden corner of a basement in Ukrainea dark and dense mass rests like a vestige of a unprecedented disaster. He has no movement or emits any sound, but his lethality is unquestionable: Anyone who remains at a Metro away for more than five minutes is convicted.
The radiation which gives off is sufficient to destroy the human organism from within, decomposing cells, generating internal bleeding and, in a matter of hours, causing a unbearable suffering. Its presence is a warning of devastation that can bring nuclear power When he escapes from human control.
How the elephant leg was born: fire, fusion and death
On April 26, 1986, in the Chernobil nuclear power planta security experiment became one of the most devastating tragedies in history. He Reactor 4 exploded With an unimaginable force, throwing highly radioactive materials in the air and triggering a crisis that would extend for generations.
Among the many horrors that arose from that catastrophe, one of the most feared is the formation of the call Elephant lega mass of Chorio that is still lethal even decades after the disaster.
The brutal explosion released temperatures so high that the reactor core melted, mixing with concrete, steel and other materials of the plant. The result was a incandescent substance that, when cooling, took a grotesque and rough formwith folds and layers that remembered the skin of an elephant.
Over time, its temperature descended, but its radioactivity remained extreme. Being discovered, the amount of Radiation in its proximity reached between 8,000 and 10,000 Roentgens per hourenough to kill anyone who dared to approach.
The fight to document the indescribable
The first images of the mortal mass were obtained with robots, which stopped working after a few minutes of exposure. Subsequently, attempts with protected cameras were made, but even so, the damage to the team were evident. Despite the danger, some workers risked their lives to obtain samples and study the composition of the material.
This Silicon, Uranium and other molten elements mixture It became an object of scientific interest, but also a warning about the price of negligence in the use of nuclear energy.
In the first years after the accident, the elephant leg continued to penetrate through concrete, slowly descending by the damaged structure of the reactor. For some time, the fear that groundwater could reach and cause even greater pollution.
However, by 2016, its movement stopped completely, since the progressive reduction of its temperature prevented it from continuing to melt the ground under it. Even so, its radioactivity remains present and is expected to continue representing a danger for centuries.
The sequelae of the tragedy
The consequences of the Chernobyl disaster are incalculable, with thousands of people exposed to extreme levels of radiation and generations affected by diseases derived from pollution. The zone is still one of the most dangerous in the worldwith large areas where human life is impossible.
Elephant’s leg, a dark residue of a nuclear tragedy, remains motionless in its corner of the basement, a good example of what happens when energy gets out of control and becomes an force of irreversible destruction.
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