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The photo above is the closest humanity has ever come to creating Medusa. 

If you were to look at this, you would die instantly. End of story.

The image is of a reactor core lava formation in the basement of the Chernobyl nuclear plant. It’s called the Elephant’s Foot and weighs hundreds of tons, but is only a couple meters across.

Oh, and regarding the Medusa thing? This picture was taken through a mirror around the corner of the hallway. Because the wheeled camera they sent up to take pictures of it was destroyed by the radiation. 

I wonder if they could get pictures in colour now or maybe get an accurate heat reading off of that thing, if it’s still all there.

It’s crazy to think that something can be that strong that it would kill you by just looking at it. Though it’s understandable. I’d like a heat reading off of it.

Oh my god

I have such a science boner right now

Do you know how fucking dense that must be to weigh hundreds of tons?

Pretty fucking dense.

Wow.

I found this video for anyone who wants to see a video of the thing (although it’s not the best quality). This thing is a serious monster. I have a little trouble deciphering this Wikipedia article, but from what I gather, this thing weighs 1,200 tons (2,400,000 pounds – a number I cannot even begin to fathom) and is only losing about 22 pounds of uranium per year. It resists its environment and if the shelter is improved, that loss is expected to drop.

Holy shit.

I am simply astounded by the sheer power and properties of radiation and nuclear power plants. This is seriously scary stuff. Not to mention its effects on humans. i find deformed humans very, very unnerving. The mutations that radiation cause are the worst, in my opinion, than say, genetic mutations. This video shows some of the mutations from the Chernobyl meltdown (warning: these are very disturbing images, so view at your own risk).

Here’s another website with a collection of Chernobyl pictures, mostly of the building itself (no mutation pictures, so unless you’re upset by major destruction, this is a really cool look-through). This is my favorite picture because it really shows the dripping of the radioactive fuel/debris lava out of the valve. I just find it so absolutely terrifying that something like this could ever happen. Radiation is seriously scary stuff. What I want to know is how they took that picture.

Oh holy shit this is terrifying. The color just makes it worse. It’s like a volcano erupted indoors. Which is probably a pretty accurate analogy, plus tons of radiation to go with it. “”Corium” is only formed during a reactor meltdown as a product of the solid fuel fissioning uncontrollably. This super-hot fuel turns into a liquid and melts its way through steel, concrete, and whatever else that might be in contact with it. So it’s a mixture of fuel and various building materials,” the admin says in the comments.

This article says that Chernobyl will stay radioactive for 100,000 years.

Radiation is just unfathomably scary stuff.

Daaaaamn.

All of this is just so incredibly terrifying and amazing at the same time. Just to think of the things humans are capable of now, and all the various horrible ways everything could go very very wrong if we’re too careless for just a second…

okay yeah fine I didn’t need to sleep tonight anyway ;_;

The Chernobyl disaster is one of the saddest and scariest things we humans have ever done to ourselves and the planet. 

100,000 years is a very, very long time.

Also, fun tidbit: there are approximately104 nuclear reactors in the United States alone. True, we have higher standards now, but all it takes is one natural disaster like the Japan 2011 earthquake and tsunami or one Three Mile Island accident to set one of those things off. 

#but also because I showed HC #and I can hear her typing like a mad woman #Health Physics Student Ahoy! #You have been warned

Where… where do I even begin with this?  Oh Dr. Turner, what would you say to this? Besides…  

Okay.  First off.  Elephant’s Foot.  Cool stuff there.  The student of radiation physics and protection inside me is beside herself with science-related glee.  That is some effing amazing science shit.  Science-induced coma here, people.

Read the article though.  The Elephant’s Foot weighs 2 metric tons (or 2000 kilograms or ~4400 pounds) and it composed of “black lava”, or a mixture of concrete, debris, and radioactive material.  (The 1200 tons is in reference to all of the slag created in the accident, not the Elephant’s Foot specifically.)

It is true that electronics are sensitive to radiation – cameras and other sophisticated electronics have to be replaced fairly regularly in areas of high radiation – but then again electronics are sensitive to both ionizing and non-ionizing radiation.  They are affected for the same reason you don’t leave your camera in direct sunlight, or the oven, or run it through a microwave (which are all forms of non-ionizing radiation, btw), it’s an environmental factor the device is not designed to handle.  

The camera in this case was “destroyed” by radiation, yes… heat is a form of radiation and the slag from the reactor core was 1660 °C for 4 days, at least.  That kind of heat would destroy anything.  So while a form of radiation was responsible for the danger posed by the slag, it wasn’t actually the ionizing radiation that was the main factor to using mirrors and remote cameras to get photos.  It was the heat first, radiation second, because that kind of heat would melt most things – in fact 1600 °C is the high end melting point of glass (Iron’s is 1535 °C; titanium, 1660 °C, so pushing it.  Platinum wouldn’t melt. It’s melting point is 1772 °C).  Why anyone would think that the radiation level (though high) would be the first issue here is beyond me.

But guys.  There is something that you ALL need to understand and for some of you, it may be incredibly surprising…

Ionizing radiation – alpha, beta, gamma, neutron – is ALL around you.  Sat/stood/slept next to another person?  Been outside recently?  Stood in the sun?  Eaten a banana?  Lived in the universe?  Guess what?  You’ve been exposed to ionizing radiation.  It comes from the environment, from man-made sources like x-ray machines, and from space.  All of you, simply from living on planet Earth will be exposed to approximately 400 millirem, or 4 mSv, of radiation over the course of a year.  Sounds like a lot, sure.  400 millirem/year.  Unless you compare to the industry standard annual limit for radiation workers – 5000 millirem/year (50 mSv/yr).

Chernobyl was a horrible and terrifying accident.  I will never deny that.  It was poorly handled.  It was poorly contained.  Most importantly, the reactors at the Chernobyl site were not built correctly.  It was not being operated within proper safety protocols.  

The accident occurred for a number of reasons: a process called reactor poisoning began when a neutron absorber caused the reactor to drop from 700 MW to 500 MW and then the control rods were inserted too far placing the reactor in a near shut down state (~30MW).  Despite the fact that the reactor was producing less than 5% of the power needed for the test that was being ran, the operators continued with the test which caused a positive feedback loop for steam production reducing the amount of liquid water persent in the system to absorb radiation…

Are you starting to see why the Chernobyl incident happened?

• …When the first explosion, inevitably, occurred, the core was overheating, power output went from near shutdown to 530 MW in three seconds, and all of the coolant for the system flashed to steam… 
• causing more over heating because steam is what is used to generate electricity in a reactor not to cool anything.  This fed into the positive feedback loop causing the reactor core to heat even more and go into meltdown… mainly because there was nothing to cool it.
• Because graphite (of all the bloody choices in the world) was used in the system as a neutron moderator, the system caught fire inside of the core housing.  
• This, in turn, caused the core to burn so hot that the building  itself caught on fire because bitumen, a highly combustible material, was used in the construction of the roof contrary to safety regulations.
• The graphite fire within the system was left to burn for weeks without any attempt to put it out.
• People in adjacent buildings were given respirators and told to keep working until they finally ignored orders and left.
• Firefighters sent in to put out the bitumen covered buildings weren’t even told why they could only work for a few minutes before they had to leave.  
• Workers were exposed to a lifetime dose of radiation within minutes.
• 64 people died as a direct result of the accident.  4000 cancer related deaths have been linked back to exposure caused by the accident.

Chernobyl occurred because there were idiots in charge who didn’t want to acknowledge just how much they fucked up.  It was a mess and all safety protocols, or even logical reason, was ignored by most of the people in charge endangering the lives of thousands as a result.

So that’s why the Chernobyl incident occurred.  Here’s a few reasons why it won’t again:

• First off, the RBMK reactor models built at Chernobyl were never built outside of the USSR.
• Graphite is not used as an moderating agent outside of those models.
• Bitumen would never be used in the building of reactor housing. (what the HELL they were thinking is beyond me.)
• The IAEA, NRC, DoE, and the dozens of other regulatory and policy making organizations closely monitor and maintain standards that are far superior to those at Chernobyl
• Unlike most industries (coal, oil, etc), the nuclear industry learns from its mistakes and does everything within their power to prevent it from happening again.  TMI was absolutely nothing compared to Chernobyl.  Fukushima as well, even considering that they both rate as “Major Accidents”.

Radiation is something that is powerful, yes.  It needs to be used and treated with respect and care, yes.

It is not something to blindly feared.

Not every reactor is Chernobyl, or even TMI or Fukushima, waiting to happen.  They are not ticking time bombs despite whatever Hollywood or the media claims.  A nuclear reactor core does not equal atom bomb (I’m looking at and judging you, TDKR).  You need weapons-grade material to make weapons.  Nuclear fuel cells do not use weapons-grade material.  Ergo, nuclear fuel is not a nuclear weapon.  Furthermore, those three instances were caused by one of two things, unique extenuating circumstances (9pt earthquake plus tsunami) or complete human idiocy (running a reactor outside of safe operation limits).

Nuclear power is under such a constant scrutiny that they can’t be screw-ups.  The nuclear industry is held to a higher standard and expectation than any other power-producing industry.  And the workers – the operators, engineers, technicians, scientists – that are employed at those plants and research labs know the power radiation possesses and they respect it.  In comparison, hundreds of miners still die yearly in coal mining related accidents.  Oil spills still occur for the same reasons fairly regularly.  Nuclear power is actually the safest and cleanest mass energy source we have, but we don’t use it because people have an unreasonable (yes, unreasonable) fear of it because they don’t understand it.

Further Reading (for those who wish to further educate themselves):

• Basic Radiation Terms – Idaho State University, ISU Health Physics Program
• Radiation Information Network – ISU, HPP
• Students’ Corner– NRC (designed for younger teens, but it’s basic easy to follow information on radiation and nuclear power)
• The ABC’s of Nuclear Science – Lawrence-Berkeley National Laboratory
• Education and Research Links – Community Environmental Monitoring Program, Department of Energy
• Nuclear accidents by death toll and Mining Accidents – Wikipedia, for comparison
• Comparison of Fukushima to Chernobyl – Wikipedia
• Fact Sheets and Brochures – Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)
• Backgrounder on Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident – NRC
• Publications – International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)
• Nuclear Energy: The Good, The Bad, and the Debatable – Dr. Lana Aref, MIT
• xkcd Radiation Dose Chart – …xkcd (wonderfully accurate, by the way)

tl;dr: Nuclear energy is one of the safest industries in the world.  Reactors are not ticking time bombs.  Sometimes bad shit happens, but it happens a hell of a lot more in other energy producing industries.  Educate yourself with the above links under “Further Readings”.  The Elephant’s Foot, though really effing cool only weighs 2 metric tons, not 1200 tons.