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Vintage Nuclear Fallout Animations

The Elephant's Foot

You’re looking at the largest accumulation of one of the most toxic substances ever created: corium.

In the days and weeks after the Chornobyl 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.

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