Is the reactor core/the fuel rods at Chernobyl still red hot,still in a molten state,or has it cooled to a point were the material is just a blob of raidoactie waste?
It solidified. Here’s a picture of the “Elephant’s Foot” formed from Rx4.
It’s known as “corium”… though I don’t know if that’s just scientists being funny, or if there’s anything genuinely unique about it from a geological perspective.
While nuclear materials can maintain their temperature above ambient (very precise (and expensive) calorimetric thermal standards are often made this way), I doubt the Chernobyl site would still be terribly warm.
I think the OP is making the mistake of thinking the Chernobyl explosion was actually a nuclear explosion, or meltdown. It was neither - it was just a steam explosion caused by water coming into contact with hot ruptured fuel sections, which threw large amounts of radioactive material into the surrounding area and into the athmosphere. If it had been a true nuclear event, it’d have been far worse.
That’s a pretty cool photo gallery. There’s another good pic of the foot in that gallery here:
http://www.spaceman.ca/gallery/chernobyl/fruin11m
It reminds me of “pillow lava”, lava that erupts underwater.
Scary stuff, 666. Bet that gives you that warm fuzzy feeling every time you go to work, doesn’t it… Am I correct in assuming from your new ocation that you are out of Prototype already?
I’ve always assumed that the heat that caused the “lava” to form the elephant’s foot was nuclear in origin, OK, not the full-on “China syndrome” but technically a “nuclear meltdown”
I know the Windscale incident was a chemical fire - the graphite used as a moderator caught fire - but that’s not the case with Chernobyl.
Can anyone enlighten me as to what happened at Chernobyl? specifically, how did the “lava” get out of the containment vessel - did it melt its way out, did the vessel rupture at the bottom in the original explosion or did the lava form from the material thrown out of the top?
The ‘elephant’s foot’ 'was simply molten fuel and debris that leaked out of the reactor before solidifying - yes, it was very hot, but it wasn’t the result of an out-of-control nuclear reaction, but merely(!) the loss of cooling systems and controls that allow a controlled reaction.
Oh, and yes, it escaped because of damage from the explosion.
No shit!
From here written before the discovery of the “elephants foot” by the “stalkers” (who were named, I’m guessing after the Tarkovsky film or “roadside picnic” on which it was based)