The Famous Photo of Chernobyl's Most Dangerous Radioactive Material Was a Selfie
At first glance, it’s hard to know what’s happening in this picture. A
giant mushroom seems to have sprouted in a factory floor, where ghostly
men in hardhats seem to be working.
But there’s something undeniably eerie about the scene, for good
reason. You’re looking at the largest agglomeration of one of the most
toxic substances ever created: corium.
In the days and weeks after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in late
April 1986, simply being in the same room as this particular pile of
radioactive material—known as the Elephant’s Foot—would have killed you
within a couple of minutes. Even a decade later, when this image was
taken, the radiation probably caused the film to develop strangely,
creating the photo’s grainy quality. The man in this photo, Artur
Korneyev, has likely visited this area more than anyone else, and in
doing so has been exposed to more radiation than almost anyone in
history.
Remarkably, he’s probably still alive. The story of how the United
States got a hold of this singular photo of a human in the presence of
this incredibly toxic material is itself fraught with mystery—almost as
much as why someone would take what is essentially a selfie with a hunk
of molten radiated lava.
Data: 24.01.2016
Fonte: www.atlasobscura.com
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