Philip

Scary documentary of the work the brave Russians are doing to investigate and fix the Sarcophagus around the destroyed reactor at Chernobyl circa 1996. They basically have scientists running around in overalls and dust masks (!) in areas of radiation of 200+ Röntgen while hot spots can get up to 500+ Röntgen. In comparison, the limit for most people working with radioactive substances is 5 REM per year (about 4.66 Röntgen, or 0.05 Sv). The former is enough to give light radiation poisoning, the latter gives acute radiation poisoning if you stay too long in there. They were investigating to discover where the fuel for the reactor had gone (the actual reactor is empty) and eventually discovered it had fused with surrounding reactor sand in the basement, part of it is known as the Elephant’s Foot. Underneath the reactor they measured it as 10,000+ Röntgen where any sort of unprotected exposure means a very painful death within about 2 days from lethal radiation poisoning.

Unfortunately contrary to their earlier beliefs of the fuel being stable in the glass like sand, the nuclear fuel is breaking down and mixing with water, scientists in Russia are worried about possible contamination as the Sarcophagus is not hermetically sealed. They hope to be able to form a new superstructure to seal the reactor in and proceed to clear the debris out from the accident without contamination or dust release into the atmosphere.

You can watch the video here.