During a routine test on April 26, 1986, reactor Number 4 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant experienced a power surge,
all attempts to manage the surge failed and the core’s temperature increased,Heat and power output continued to rise until the water that was used to cool the entire reactor vaporized.
The first explosion from the steam inside the reactor was enough to blow up the roof.
Second, even more massive explosion followed shortly after the first, finding broken core material in the air, spreading fire and radioactive dust.
Radioactive materials used as fuel get hotter and hotter, due to their unstinting emission of high-energy particles, until they literally melt, turning into something like lava.
The result was a large black mass that would later be dubbed "the Elephant’s Foot".
30 seconds of exposure, dizziness and fatigue will find you a week later.
2 minutes of exposure and your cells will soon begin to hemorrhage.
4 minutes: vomiting, diarrhea, and fever.
300 seconds and you have two days to live.
The Elephant’s Foot could be the most dangerous piece of waste in the world.
When this photo was taken, 10 years after the disaster, the Elephant’s Foot was only emitting one-tenth of the radiation it once had.
Though the Chernobyl sarcophagus was constructed with enough concrete structure has deteriorated and crumbled because the foundations could not bear the weight.
Construction started on the new sarcophagus on September 2010,and because of the complexity of the job, they assume they will be finished by the end of 2018.
The Elephant’s Foot will be there for centuries, in the dark basement surrounded with concrete as a symbol to humankind not to repeat their mistakes
