There is an " elephant foot " underground at the abandoned nuclear power plant in Chernobyl. What's going on?
What is even more puzzling is that this "elephant foot" can actually rekindle and .
Where did this "elephant foot" come from, and why are scientists from all walks of life so worried?
Aerial photography after the Chernobyl accident
Everything starts from that day in 1986, when an "elephant foot" was born here due to a nuclear power plant accident. Although
is shaped like an elephant's foot, it actually has nothing to do with an elephant. To be precise, this foot is even more powerful than an elephant.
Let us go back to the accident more than 30 years ago to find out what happened to cause an "elephant foot" to appear.
The abandoned city of Chernobyl
The huge nuclear explosion
April 26, 1986, this is a day that makes the whole world feel the pain, located in UkraineChernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Reactor exploded. At the moment of the explosion, the nuclear power plant's defense system was destroyed, causing the nuclear fuel to leak.
Suddenly, with Chernobyl as the dot, a 30-kilometer radius of was filled with radiation dust.
The nuclear accident caused 1 people on duty that day to die on the spot, and infected more than 200 surrounding employees . After
, the radiation spread and continues. In the past 30 years,
,
, , , , , , , , , , , suffered from cancer.
Chernobyl today
To this day, the radiation generated by the explosion has not dissipated, and scientists monitor the amount of radiation in Chernobyl every year.
After inspection, it was found that only 5% of the nuclear fuel was left on the surface of the nuclear power plant.
This does not mean that they are all consumed, but that they have all been moved underground! Underground in Chernobyl, an "elephant foot " appeared.
It is a mixture of nuclear fuel, cement, and soil. It is an "elephant foot" with radiation.
Scientists named this "elephant foot" Krem.
Elephant Foot Krem
The power of the nuclear explosion at the Chernobyl Power Station was more than 400 times that of the Hiroshima nuclear explosion. The high temperature generated in an instant exceeded the normal endurance limit of the nuclear reactor.
As a result, the bottom of nuclear reactor was burned directly through , causing the nuclear fuel inside, mainly uranium-235, to flow into the underground along the burned hole .
However, the underground at this time has been burned into a molten state , just like magma , and uranium-235 is wrapped in these molten rocks and cement. After
, the reactor gradually cooled down, and the "magma" that leaked out began to cool down, eventually forming a solid material like an elephant's foot.
Chernobyl after the explosion
In other words, the "elephant foot" is essentially a combination of cement and stratum rock that were burned and mixed with uranium-235, becoming the new "uranium ore". The uranium-235 in
is still in the half-life of , , so the "elephant foot" of contains radiation .
After the Chernobyl incident, the Soviet Union built a cement coffin to cover the entire Chernobyl nuclear power plant to prevent radiation from continuing to spread into the air.
The "elephant foot" was also buried underground at the nuclear power plant.
However, during a routine inspection, scientists discovered that the "elephant foot" has continued to react internally and accumulated heat for more than 30 years, and it is very likely that it will rekindle one day!
Workers who entered the radiation zone
"Elephant Foot" rekindled
By comparing photos of the "Elephant Foot" more than 30 years ago, scientists found that its shape had changed , indicating that it was still in a molten state, but was smaller than Since it was burned into "magma", is a little less plastic than .
But the possibility of it turning back into "magma" cannot be ruled out, because the entire nuclear power plant has never actually stopped reacting .
Why is the "elephant foot" resurgence after more than 30 years?
Scientists explained that the reason is that covers the "coffin" of the nuclear power plant. Over the years, has cracked due to exposure to wind and sun, causing rainwater to penetrate into the nuclear power plant.
Chernobyl's "coffin"
nuclear power plant uses the nuclear fission reaction , which uses neutrons to bombard heavy atoms , causing them to split into smaller atoms . The neutrons generated in the
process continue to the next step of the reaction, which is interlocking, just like a chain, also known as " chain reaction ". The water used in
nuclear power plants is heavy water , which contains hydrogen isotopes deuterium and tritium . However, as the first element, hydrogen's atoms and neutrons have the same mass as , which results in the hydrogen atom itself being used as a neutron.
The hydrogen atoms of the rainwater that has penetrated are participating in the reaction . Once ignites the chain reaction , the abandoned reactor will resurgence .
So the top priority is to repair the cracks in the cement "coffin" so that rainwater stops penetrating and the nuclear fuel inside can quietly complete the reaction.
chain reaction
However, some scientists are worried that even if the "coffin" is repaired, the water that leaked in will not evaporate in a short while, but will still stay inside.
The residual water of these is likely to trigger a reaction.
When the "elephant foot" was still in a molten state, in order to prevent it from flowing to further strata, more than 1,400 workers risked their lives and spent 45 days building a cooling device to stop the "elephant foot" from flowing.
Workers involved in the emergency repair
Therefore, the scientists plan to transform the original cooling device into a heating device , so that the remaining rainwater inside can evaporate and run to the top of the "coffin", using the current cracks to spread it Go to air .
However, there is a certain risk in this, that is, the water vapor is likely to carry radiation , and when released into the air, it will drift to the crowd with the wind.
Therefore, the "elephant foot" has now become a hot potato . It seems that no matter how to deal with it, it is not the most perfect method.
The environment where the elephant feet are located
The dangers of re-ignition
If the rain is allowed to participate in the reaction and is ignored, the nuclear power plant will explode for the second time, and the "coffin" covering it will be directly blown to pieces by and blown away .
Radiation once again enters the air and drifts along the wind to Northern Europe and Western Europe regions. The whole of Europe will be shrouded in radiation.
Initially, due to the radiation from Chernobyl, more than 300,000 people suffered from cancer . Today, more than 90,000 people have died, and the remaining 270,000 people are still suffering from cancer.
Chernobyl's location
If it rekindles this time and causes a second explosion, the number of victims is likely to double based on the current population of Eastern Europe.
The biggest harm of nuclear radiation is that it will cause DNA in cells to mutate . The most common one is becoming cancerous . The predecessor of
cancer cells is human normal cells . Under the mutagenesis of radiation , becomes immortal cancer cells , dividing infinitely.
Since cancer cells are immortal and exist forever, they will occupy the living space of normal cells and seize their nutrients. More importantly, destroy the immune system, causing the weak human body to suffer from other diseases.
Cancer cells
In the end, people die from various diseases.
In 2021, scientists tested and found that the neutron concentration in the underground space where the "Elephant Foot" is located has doubled compared to four years ago. It seems that a resurgence is imminent, and the situation cannot be delayed.
It can be said that human beings are suffering from both front and back, because we are facing more than one nuclear pollution.
The structure of the atom
Nuclear threat
A .0 magnitude earthquake occurred in 2011 in Japan, which in turn triggered a tsunami . The Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant was damaged, and nuclear leakage occurred.
Ten years later, in 2021, the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant announced that it would discharge wastewater containing nuclear waste into the sea.
Now the nuclear waste in Chernobyl is facing the crisis of exploding again. Human beings have finally opened Pandora's box as Einstein said.
The impact of nuclear radiation is continuous, and as long as it is a substance with a DNA structure, it will be affected by it. This does not distinguish between high-level or low-level biological forms, young or ancient .
Nuclear wastewater
Imagine that radiation mutates a certain bacteria or virus , and the whole world is not good. Nuclear energy is known as the energy of the new century. Compared with traditional fossil energy, nuclear energy has higher production capacity and easier access to raw materials.
Especially nuclear fusion , the raw material used is hydrogen atoms , which is the most indispensable substance on the earth and is found all over the sea.
However, nuclear energy is very scary. Its use must comply with strict requirements, and any leakage is fatal.
Whether it is fusion or fission, it will produce radiation , which is unavoidable.
Nuclear power plant
And all current nuclear energy is uncontrollable, which means that it is good luck not to have an accident. Once it does, it will be an irreversible disaster.
And human beings' use of nuclear weapons does not end there. Nuclear weapons are currently the most powerful weapon. There are more than 20,000 nuclear warheads in the world.
If they detonate together, then the earth will be blown off a layer of skin by , and then the earth will heal itself, but humans may not have the chance to heal themselves.
Dangerous nuclear radiation
Nuclear energy is like the Sword of Damocles hanging over human heads. We enjoy the benefits it brings, but we must bear the consequences it causes.
