Elephant's foot: Invisible destroyer, 5 minutes to kill, never dare to come near again!

At first glance, many people might mistake this for a supernatural object straight out of a science fiction movie.

However, this bizarre shape is completely real - and it is a chilling testament to the devastating consequences of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster. The object has been given the terrifying name: "Elephant's Foot".

The "Elephant's Foot" is a radioactive mass crystallized from a mixture of uranium, silicon, zirconium and molten concrete - the result of the explosion of reactor No. 4. Because of its dense structure, gray color and shape resembling a giant foot, scientists have given it a folk but haunting name.

The Daily Mail once described the "Elephant's Foot" as "the most dangerous object in the world". At the time of its formation, just standing near it for a few minutes was enough to kill a person from acute radiation poisoning. Even looking at it through a camera lens once caused many devices to fail due to strong diffraction.

Although the radiation levels have decreased over time, experts warn that it will be hundreds of years before humans can safely approach it - and that is only possible with the help of special protective technology.

How did the "elephant foot" appear?

On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl nuclear disaster - the most serious nuclear accident in human history - occurred at reactor number 4 of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, in Ukraine (then part of the Soviet Union).

It all started when engineers performed a safety test that went horribly wrong. When they noticed something was wrong, they immediately attempted an emergency shutdown of the reactor. However, due to numerous technical and design flaws, the attempt not only failed but also escalated the situation.

The temperature in the reactor core rose so rapidly that it spiraled out of control. When water was pumped in to cool it, it immediately evaporated, creating enormous pressure. Eventually, the reactor exploded violently, releasing a large amount of radioactive material into the environment, leading to the Chernobyl disaster that shocked the world.

In the fall of that year, when rescue teams and engineers were dispatched to the scene to assess the damage and find ways to stop the radioactive leak, they suddenly discovered a strange mass of matter lying below the reactor chamber area. The mass of matter was shaped like a giant elephant's foot lying on its side, with a rough, leaden-gray surface, looking like a petrified part of its body. And from then on, it was named "Elephant's Foot" - a name that was both figurative and evocative of horror.

According to scientists, when the temperature inside the reactor exceeds the safety threshold, surrounding materials such as steel, concrete, sand... are melted and mixed with nuclear fuel. This deadly liquid flows through the concrete floors, sweeping everything in its path and creating a thick mixture with terrible radiation levels.

As it cooled, the material crystallized into a completely new compound in science, called corium - a molten nuclear compound. And of the corium fragments that formed at Chernobyl, the "Elephant's Foot" is the most famous and dangerous.

When it was first built in 1986, the Elephant's Foot emitted up to 10,000 x 1000 radiation per hour—a dose about 1,000 times higher than the level that can cause cancer in humans. To put that in perspective, that's the equivalent of about 4.5 million X-rays.

Just standing near the “Elephant’s Foot” for 30 seconds can cause a person to start feeling dizzy, lightheaded, and weak for days. The tremendous radiation from this mass of matter causes immediate biological effects on the nervous system and body cells. If exposed for 2 minutes, the radiation penetrates deep into living tissue, destroying cell structure and DNA, leading to serious damage at the molecular level.

Exposure lasting up to 4 minutes will cause the body to show typical symptoms of acute radiation syndrome such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, headache and high fever - signs that the immune system and bone marrow are being severely damaged. In the case of direct exposure for 5 minutes, the amount of radiation absorbed into the body reaches an irreversible level, leading to multiple organ failure and death after only a few days.

Because of its "fatal" danger level, it is very rare for direct images of the "Elephant's Foot" to be published. The first photos of this object were recorded not with a conventional handheld camera, but through a specialized camera mounted on wheels and controlled remotely.

In this way, emergency response experts were able to collect imaging data without having to physically approach the deadly mass. Years later, in the early 1990s, the U.S. Department of Energy, in collaboration with Ukrainian scientists, visited the site and collected additional images for research. These images remain invaluable in nuclear science, directly illustrating the severity and physical consequences of an unforeseeable nuclear disaster.

The person who had the closest contact with the "Elephant's Foot" - miraculously survived after nearly 40 years

Although most experts do not dare to approach the "Elephant's Foot" because of its terrifying level of danger, there is still one person who has stood very close to this deadly object - that is Artur Korneyev, Deputy Director of the Shelter Object project (the plan to cover reactor No. 4 after the explosion).

He not only approached but also took some rare photos of the “Elephant’s Foot” in the early years after the disaster. Incredibly, according to an article published in 2021, Artur is still alive and living in Ukraine, despite having spent decades working in a highly radioactive environment.

However, it should be stressed that Mr. Artur did not approach the situation recklessly. As a specialist with extensive experience in the field of nuclear incident response, he always wore full protective equipment and strictly adhered to the minimum exposure time limit to ensure his safety.

Nearly 40 years after the Chernobyl disaster, scientists continue to warn of the potential dangers posed by the “Elephant’s Foot.” Although radiation levels have decreased over time as the material cools, corium, the compound that makes up the “Elephant’s Foot,” remains extremely toxic and difficult to control. Any movement could lead to a renewed radioactive leak.

To combat this, in 2016, the Ukrainian government and international organizations completed the construction of a new containment structure called the “New Safe Confinement.” This massive concrete and steel structure is placed directly over the reactor No. 4 area – where the “Elephant’s Foot” lies deep below – to prevent radiation from spreading into the environment, while also creating conditions for further research and treatment in the future.

To date, only five instances of corium formation have been recorded in nuclear disasters, with the “Elephant’s Foot” being the most famous and dangerous. Because of its rarity and poorly understood nature, no one can predict exactly how the “Elephant’s Foot” will evolve over the next few decades. This remains a major unknown, forcing the global nuclear science community to closely monitor it for a long time.