May 11, 2021 10:02 PM EDT
Nuclear fission reactions have begun to flame up again in an isolated basement room deep inside the ruined pits of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, 35 years since the world s worst nuclear disaster.
(Photo : Pixabay)
According to Science Magazine, Ukrainian scientists from the Institute for Safety Problems in Nuclear Power Plants (ISPNPP) recently discovered an extraordinarily high number of neutrons emitting from an inaccessible room in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant indicating that a fission reaction has begun to reoccur.
Neil Hyatt, a professor of nuclear materials chemistry at the University of Sheffield and a member of the UK s Committee on Radioactive Waste Management, described it as like the embers in a barbecue pit. On April 26, 1986, most of the contents of the Unit Four reactor s core melted down in extreme searing heat, allowing 170 tons of irradiated uranium to pour into the reactor hall s basement spaces, where it slowly cooled and h
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Radioactive corridors where Reactor No.4 malfunctioned in the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant - and the levels of radiation are fifty thousand times higher than normal
At the time, emergency crews responding to the accident used helicopters to pour sand and boron on the reactor debris to extinguish fires.
The sand melted with uranium fuel rods and their zirconium cladding, as well as graphite control rods, to form a lava.
The lava flowed into the reactor hall s basement rooms and hardened into highly radioactive formations called lava-like fuel containing materials (LFCMs).
A few weeks after the accident, the crews completely covered the damaged unit in a temporary concrete structure, called the sarcophagus , to limit further release of radioactive material.
Ukrainian scientists investigate spike in nuclear reactions at Chernobyl s inaccessible room yahoo.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from yahoo.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.