tigerine:survivingthetriwizardtournament:sixthrock:lavastormsw:bolinsboo:razzledazzy:The photo above
tigerine:survivingthetriwizardtournament:sixthrock:lavastormsw:bolinsboo:razzledazzy: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 godI have such a science boner right nowDo 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.The Sarcophagus was, the last time I heard, open to the air. Birds can fly into the the destroyed reactor. Some have built nests in it.After the accident, attempts were made to push all the ejected reactor core material back into the hole blown into the top of it, but all remotely operated electronic equipment didn’t make it more than a minute or two. They could not use remote-operated methods, like rovers, to move the debris. The Red Army was mobilized and young soldiers were sent out to pick up the ejected reactor core material and throw it back into the building. The gloves they were given were insufficient to protect them from radiation burns. They received their yearly maximum dose of radiation in 90 seconds.There is a film, which I cannot find right now, of scientists surveying the damage in nothing more than bunny suits. They’re not wearing lead-lined anything. You can see the graphite control rods bent and twisted and sticking out of the reactor: the core meltdown material is a few floors down. The scientists walk and climb over the control rods while bursts of light appear on the film. These lights, which look like fireflies that wink in and out— they’re that numerous—are the result of beta decay particles striking the film.Only 13 people were killed in the initial explosion, but hundreds of firefighters and military died from radiation poisoning after cleanup and at least 10,000 deaths have been attributed to Chernobyl-related cancers. The actual toll is likely much higher. Some of this is due to the fact that Pripyat, the town nearest the plant, wasn’t evacuated until days after the explosion. -- source link