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The Chernobyl Elephant Foot

The Chernobyl Elephant Foot

         I wonder how many of you have heard of, or seen photo's of the 'Elephant Foot' at Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, near Pripyat, Ukraine.  In case you haven't, let's learn a little about it.  I'm pulling my information from Wikipedia, like I usually do, as well as my training from the Navy Nuclear Power Field.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elephant%27s_Foot_(Chernobyl)

         The Chernobyl disaster occurred on April 26, 1986.  I was at sea on the USS Alabama SSBN 731 when the disaster occurred.  Being in the Nuclear Power field, we were informed of it's occurrence.  Even back then we had little to go on.  I mean, there were no computers on board yet that we could access the Internet from, even if they were there.  After all, the Internet as we know it was not created until January 1, 1983.  You're going to say, "Jim, the accident occurred after the Internet was created!"  And you're right.  But it wasn't until the early 90's that the World Wide Web (Created by Tim Berners-Lee) was launched, making the internet significantly more accessible and user-friendly.  Enough about WWW.

         We received our news from the daily unclasssfied broadcast from Shore Stations of the Navy.  Us 'Nukes' eagerly devoured any news about Chernobyl, and of course we had training sessions about how/why it ocurred in an effort to make sure it never happened to a Navy Nuclear Powered Ship or Submarine.  The radiation from something like the Elephant Foot might make some of the Engineroom uninhabitable, even with the shielding that is built into the Reactor Plant.

         The Elephant's Foot (Ukrainian: Слонова нога, romanized: Slonova noha) is the nickname given to the large mass of corium beneath Reactor 4 of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.  The mass formed during the Chernobyl disaster of 26 April 1986 from materials such as molten concrete, sand, steel, uranium, and zirconium. It is named for its wrinkled appearance and large size, evocative of the foot of an elephant.

         Discovered in December 1986 (notice that it was discovered eight months after the disaster), the “foot” is located in a maintenance corridor below the remains of Reactor No. 4, though the often-photographed formation is only a small portion of several larger corium masses in the area. It has a popular reputation as one of the most radioactive objects in history, though the danger has decreased over time due to the decay of its radioactive components.

         Let's clear a couple of things up here.  First, there is no such material as Corium.  Note above that it's molten materials like concrete, sand, steel, uranium, and zirconium.  Uranium and Zirconium are metals used in constructing the Reactor Core, and are what causes it to be radioactive.  (We'll briefly discuss Radioactivity and Contamination in a little bit).  When the foot was first formed it was so radioactive that if you were within about 10 feet of it for longer than about 10-15 seconds, you would be dead.  Above, the web-page says 'the danger has decreased over time due to the decay of its radioactive components.'  Don't be fooled by that statement, it's still very radioactive.  The Elephant Foot will be radioative and pose a threat for a few thousqand more years!  At the time of its discovery, radioactivity near the Elephant's Foot was approximately 8,000 to 10,000 roentgens per hour, or delivering a 50/50 lethal dose of radiation within 3 minutes.  The only  way to get any photo's or samples of it, was by using a Remote Controlled device.  So let's leave it at 'You don't want to hang out near this thing, unless you're looking to commit suicide.'

         Now, just a little bit about Radioactivity and Contamination.  What's the difference?  I will try and write this in layman's terms so that everyone can understand.  Let's say you're walking in a field and step in a pile of Poo.  (Horse Poo, Dog Poo, Cow Poo, whatever).  The thing is, this stuff is on your shoe and stinks to high heaven!  That smell?  That's essentially Radiation.  The Poo on your shoe?  That's contamination.  Is contamination radioactive?  It can be of course, depending on where it came from.  The problem is, in my example you can see what's causing each.  In real life, you will probably not be able to see it.  That's why we sample the air, and 'swipe' (with a piece of special round paper) an area, and measure radioativity with a special meter.  There, now you're a little more knowledgeable about Nuclear 'stuff'.  Yeah, I'm pulling on knowledge gained about 53 years ago now....