This six minute video was shot by esteemed Ukranian videographer/journalist. He was one of very few with unfettered access of the facility, and died of exposure related cancer within weeks of the filming.
Perhaps the most chilling images (4:17) are those of the "biorobots" who were shoveling radioactive graphite from the roof of the reactor. The radiation levels at this area was measured at several thousand roentgens. According to the video this exposure would cause their bodies to shut down within an hour, and to add further perspective an exposure of about 500 R in 5 hours is lethal for humans. The intensity of the radiation was so intense in this area that a helicopter pilot flying above is shown becoming radiation sick and crashing.
Another gripping segment (3:09) of the video chronicles the human excavators who had to tunnel below the reactor, where the radioactive elements had melted down to, in effort to pour concrete underneath. This was done in effort to vault the radioactive elements by supporting the hundreds of tons of filler materials the filled in above.
I am relieved that technical advancements in nuclear science in concert with sound engineering has avoided such a situation in Japan.
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