象腳 (切爾諾貝爾)
51°23′21″N 30°05′54″E / 51.3892°N 30.09833°E
「象腳」(英語:Elephant's Foot;烏克蘭語:Слонова нога,羅馬化:Slonova noha;俄語:Слоновья нога)是給予在1986年4月的切爾諾貝爾核事故期間,於烏克蘭普里皮亞季附近的切爾諾貝爾核電站地底下形成的大質量高放射性爐心熔融物的綽號。它的確切位置為在四號反應堆殘骸附近的維修走廊內,並於1986年4月遭人發現。儘管其極高的放射性已因衰變而隨着時間的推移降低,但還是非常危險,因此象腳目前仍存且未被移除[1][2]。
起源
[編輯]象腳是一團黑色的多層爐心熔融物,皺巴巴、像樹皮和玻璃一樣的表面容易讓人聯想大象的腳,因而得名。它在1986年4月的切爾諾貝爾核事故期間生成,並在同年12月被人發現。象腳是切爾諾貝爾核電站四號反應堆下方更大質量物質的一小部分,並位於廢棄反應堆東南方15米(49英尺)處,距地面6米(20英尺)的第217/2室[3][4]。構成象腳的物質燒穿了至少2米(6.6英尺)厚的鋼筋混凝土,然後流過管道和裂縫,沿着走廊到達現在的位置[4]。
構造
[編輯]象腳的主要成分為二氧化矽,還帶有微量的鈾、鈦、鋯、鎂和石墨[1][2][5][6]。儘管解聚過後的矽酸鹽玻璃偶爾會含有鋯石晶粒,但它的質量基本上仍是平均的[7]。這些鋯石顆粒並沒有被拉長,證明結晶的速度正常。當二氧化鈾樹枝石因身處在岩漿的高溫之內而快速生成時,鋯石也在岩漿慢慢冷卻的期間開始結晶。象腳的含鈾粒子雖分佈得不甚均勻,其放射性質量卻分佈得十分均勻[7]。它的密度極大,且不能被安裝在遙控手推車上的鑽頭鑿穿,但AK-47所發射的穿甲彈卻可造成損壞[1][2][4]。到了1998年6月,象腳的外層出現龜裂的情況,並開始產生粉塵[7]。23年(2021)後,它的硬度據說已與沙子無異[8]。
殺傷性
[編輯]在象腳形成八個月後被發現時,其周邊的放射性高達約8,000–10,000倫琴[9],或每小時80–100格雷[2],且能夠在五分鐘內發出造成50隻試驗動物全數死亡的致死量輻射(4.5格雷)[2][10]。從那時起直到1996年,它的輻射強度已經下降到足以讓新安全圍堵體計劃的副主任阿圖爾·科爾涅耶夫(Artur Korneyev)入內調查的程度[a],他還用自動照相機拍照,由於環境昏暗的關係,還用了閃光燈照亮整個房間[11]。
參見
[編輯]註釋與參考資料
[編輯]註釋
[編輯]- ^ 科爾涅耶夫在2014年退休前於烏克蘭斯拉武季奇接受《紐約時報》記者亨利·楓丹(Henry Fountain)的訪問:Fountain, Henry; Daniels, William. Chernobyl: Capping a Catastrophe. The New York Times. 27 April 2014 [21 March 2019]. (原始內容存檔於2019-06-14).
參考資料
[編輯]- ^ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Higginbotham, Adam. Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster. Random House. 2019: 340. ISBN 9781473540828.
The substance proved too hard for a drill mounted on a motorized trolley, ... Finally, a police marksman arrived and shot a fragment of the surface away with a rifle. The sample revealed that the Elephant's Foot was a solidified mass of silicon dioxide, titanium, zirconium, magnesium, and uranium ...
- ^ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 United States Foreign Broadcast Information Service (編). Daily Report: Soviet Union. No. 235–239. The Service: 133. 1989.
The radiation level near it was approximately 8,000 roentgens per hour in 1986. Even five minutes spent near the 「foot」 would have killed a man ... the substance failed to yield to a drill mounted on a special remote-controlled truck ... A skilled marksman ... fired armor-piercing bullets into it ... Analysis of the fragments obtained in this way showed that they consisted of 70–90% silicon dioxide (fused sand), 2–10% fuel particles, and, in addition, contained graphite (hence the black color), metal alloys, and so on ...
- ^ Hill, Kyle. Chernobyl's Hot Mess, 'the Elephant's Foot', Is Still Lethal. Nautilus. 4 December 2013 [8 November 2018]. ISSN 2372-1766. (原始內容存檔於2018-11-15).
- ^ 4.0 4.1 4.2 R. F. Mould. Chernobyl Record: The Definitive History of the Chernobyl Catastrophe. CRC Press. 2000: 130. ISBN 9781420034622.
- ^ Jaromir Kolejka (編). Role of GIS in Lifting the Cloud Off Chernobyl. NATO Science: Earth and environmental sciences 10 illustrated. Springer Science & Business Media. 2002: 72. ISBN 9781402007682.
- ^ Ann Larabee. Decade of Disaster illustrated. University of Illinois Press. 2000: 50. ISBN 9780252068201.
- ^ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Vlasova, Irina; Shiryaev, Andrey; Ogorodnikov, Boris; Burakov, Boris; Dolgopolova, Ekaterina; Senin, Roman; Averin, Alexey; Zubavichus, Yan; Kalmykov, Stepan. Radioactivity distribution in fuel-containing materials (Chernobyl "lava") and aerosols from the Chernobyl "Shelter". Radiation Measurements. 2015, 83: 20–25. Bibcode:2015RadM...83...20V. ISSN 1350-4487. doi:10.1016/j.radmeas.2015.06.005.
- ^ Stone, Richard. 'It's like the embers in a barbecue pit.' Nuclear reactions are smoldering again at Chernobyl. Science. 5 May 2021 [12 May 2021]. (原始內容存檔於2021-05-12).
- ^ The Elephant's Foot of the Chernobyl disaster, 1986 - Rare Historical Photos. Rare Historical Photos. 2014-07-02 [2022-04-29]. (原始內容存檔於2019-05-30) (美國英語).
- ^ Lethal Dose (LD). US Nuclear Regulatory Commission. 21 March 2019 [21 March 2019]. (原始內容存檔於2019-07-13).
- ^ Goldenberg, Daniel. The Famous Photo of Chernobyl's Most Dangerous Radioactive Material Was a Selfie. Atlas Obscura. 24 January 2016 [21 March 2019]. (原始內容存檔於2016-01-26).