The most dangerous radioactive material within the world is probably going the "Elephant's Foot," the name given to the solid be due the meltdown at the Chernobyl nuclear energy plant on Gregorian calendar month twenty six, 1986. The accident occurred throughout a routine check once an influence surge triggered associate degree emergency ending that did not go as planned.


Chernobyl
The core temperature of the reactor rose, inflicting an excellent larger power surge, and therefore the management rods that may otherwise have managed the reaction were inserted too late to assist. the warmth and power rose to the purpose wherever the water accustomed cool the reactor volatilized, generating pressure that blew the reactor assembly apart in a very powerful explosion.


With no means that to chill the reaction, the temperature ran out of management. A second explosion threw a part of the hot core into the air, showering the world with radiation and beginning fires. The core began to soften, manufacturing a cloth resembling hot lava—except that it absolutely was conjointly wildly hot. As liquefied sludge oozed through the remaining pipes and liquid concrete, it eventually hardened into a mass resembling the foot of associate degree elephant or, to some viewers, Medusa, the monstrous Gorgon from classical mythology.

Elephant's Foot
The Elephant's Foot was discovered by employees in Gregorian calendar month 1986. it absolutely was each physically hot and nuclear-hot, hot to the purpose that approaching it for over some seconds deep-seated a death sentence. Scientists place a camera on a wheel and pushed it bent photograph and study the mass. some brave souls went bent the mass to require samples for analysis.


Corium
What researchers discovered was that the Elephant's Foot wasn't, as some had expected, the remnants of the fuel. Instead, it absolutely was a mass of liquid concrete, core shielding, and sand, all mixed along. the fabric was named stratum once the portion of the reactor that made it.

The Elephant's Foot modified over time, puffing out mud, cracking, and rotten, however as it did, it remained too hot for humans to approach.

Chemical Composition
Scientists analyzed the composition of stratum to work out however it shaped and therefore the true danger it represents. They learned that the fabric shaped from a series of processes, from the initial melting of the nuclear core into the Zircaloy (a proprietary metal alloy) protective covering to the mixture with sand and concrete silicates to a final lamination because the volcanic rock liquid through floors, curing. stratum is actually a heterogeneous salt glass containing inclusions:


uranium oxides (from the fuel pellets)
uranium oxides with metal (from the melting of the core into the cladding)
zirconium oxides with U
zirconium-uranium compound (Zr- U-O)
zirconium silicate with up to 100% U [(Zr,U)SiO4, that is termed chernobylite]
calcium aluminosilicates
metal
smaller amounts of Na compound and magnesia
If you were to seem at the stratum, you'd see black and brown ceramic, slag, pumice, and metal.

Is It Still Hot?
The nature of radioisotopes is that they decay into a lot of stable isotopes over time. However, the decay theme for a few components can be slow, and the "daughter," or product, of decay may additionally be hot.

The stratum of the Elephant's Foot was significantly lower ten years once the accident however still insanely dangerous. At the 10-year purpose, radiation from the stratum was all the way down to 1/10th its initial worth, however the mass remained physically hot enough associate degreed emitted enough radiation that five hundred seconds of exposure would turn out radiation syndrome and regarding an hour was deadly.

The intention was to contain the Elephant's Foot by 2015 in a trial to diminish its environmental threat level.

However, such containment does not create it safe. The stratum of the Elephant's Foot may not be as active because it was, however it's still generating heat and still melting down into the bottom of Chernobyl. ought to it manage to seek out water, another explosion might result. notwithstanding no explosion occurred, the reaction would contaminate the water. The Elephant's Foot can cool over time, however it'll stay hot and (if you were able to bit it) heat for hundreds of years to return.

Other Sources of stratum
Chernobyl is not the solely nuclear accident to supply stratum. grey stratum with patches of yellow conjointly shaped in partial meltdowns at 3 Mile Island nuclear energy plant within the U.S. in March 1979 and Fukushima Daiichi nuclear energy plant in Japan in March 2011. Glass made from atomic tests, like trinitite, is similar.