Chilling story behind image of two women sitting on 'the most radioactive thing in Chernobyl'
A photo showing two women sitting on a highly radioactive piece of debris from the Chernobyl disaster has resurfaced online.
The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant disaster of 26 April 1986 is remembered as one of the most catastrophic nuclear accidents in human history.
When reactor number four suffered a catastrophic explosion, it released massive amounts of radioactive material into the atmosphere and rendered the surrounding area uninhabitable for generations.
The blast and subsequent fires killed 31 people immediately, while long-term radiation exposure has caused thousands more deaths over the decades.
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The disaster forced a permanent evacuation of the nearby city of Pripyat and created an exclusion zone spanning roughly 30 kilometres around the plant.
However, despite the high radiation risk, the Chernobyl exclusion zone became a surprisingly popular tourist destination in recent years.
Before the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, tourists were able to visit the Chernobyl area under strict supervision from certified guides.
To this day, the site contains many reminders of the disaster that would put off most visitors from getting too close. One of which is the construction claw which was originally used to remove highly contaminated materials from the destroyed reactor number four.
But that didn't stop a pair of female tourists from making contact with the claw for their photo opportunity.
Luckily for them, Radiation Answers confirmed that the women likely didn't spend enough time next to the object to suffer from any long-term health effects. According to the experts, a few minutes of exposure would result in absorbing only a few microsieverts of radiation.
Reddit users have analysed the radiation risks, with one explaining that while a chest X-ray exposes you to 0.1 millisieverts of radiation, spending less than 20 minutes near the claw (which emits 0.3 millisieverts per hour) would provide equivalent exposure.
"Big deal? Nope. Would I needlessly get up close and personal with this junk? Also nope," they added, while another wrote: "The reason this thing is radioactive is that it's coated with radioactive dust and dirt. Things that might cling to the skin and clothes of whoever touches them and continue emitting radiation for a long time, and possibly ingested."
A third user added: "Guaranteed they’re fine. It’s not like there are elephant’s foot exposure rates just walking around outside."
While the claw poses risks, it's relatively mild compared to the Elephant's Foot, the world's most radioactive object. Just 30 seconds of unprotected exposure to the object could prove fatal, causing immediate symptoms including fatigue, dizziness, cell damage, vomiting, diarrhoea, and fever.
That said, this case is just another example of how some people take extreme risks with their lives for the sake of social media.