While exploring Chernobyl, the location of the worst nuclear disaster in history, an adventurer tried to open an object that could be the ‘most radioactive item in the world’ and the footage is shocking.
A YouTube creator known as Abandoned Explorer documented his visit to Chernobyl and captured the horrific decay of abandoned buildings, forgotten places, theme parks, mansions and theaters, as well as finding a highly radioactive object in a bag.
Adventurer explored Chernobyl and tried to open ‘most radioactive item in the world’
The Chernobyl disaster began on 26 April 1986 when the Number Four RBMK reactor at the nuclear power plant at Chernobyl, Ukraine, went out of control during a test at low power, leading to an explosion and fire that demolished the reactor building and releasing large amounts of radiation into the atmosphere.
According to the International Atomic Energy Agency states, radioactive elements including plutonium, iodine, strontium and caesium were scattered over a wide area, along with the emission of radioactive materials into the environment.
This area now remains almost completely abandoned and is called the Chernobyl exclusion zone (a 30-kilometre radius surrounding the plant) but people are now able to visit the area, including even the exclusion zone, since all of the reactors are now closed.
YouTube creator Abandoned Explorer documents adventures and captures his passion for urban exploring, (also known as urbex) and even dedicated a series to exploring Chernobyl.
A video posted in 2019 (series two episode seven) titled ‘Chernobyl-Most Dangerous Object I Have Ever Found’ features the explorer trying to open, what he describes as, the ‘most radioactive item in the world.’
The Abandoned Explorer is accompanied by a local guide, who uses a Geiger counter device (an electronic instrument used for detecting and measuring ionizing radiation) to measure radiation levels as they explore the deserted area.
At around the 8:30 timestamp in the video, the guide is holding a rare and highly radioactive metal called polonium, and opens it to find a particularly radioactive item. Abandoned Explorer announces: “Whatever is in this bag is dangerously radioactive.”
Crazy radioactivity measurements shows radiation is so dangerous
Using the radioactivity measuring device, the guide shows the device switch from a reading of 0.005m, to a figure exceeding 2700 when the device is placed on the radioactive object.
When the device is then taken away and pointed in the air, the results show that the radiation surrounding them has risen to 0.099m.
A user in the comment section of the YouTube video suggested: “Looks like you’ve found a fuel fragment from the explosion of the tower” and even advised to “turn that in to some scientists.”
Wondering why radiation exposure is so dangerous to humans?
Radiation is the energy or particles that are released during radioactive decay. The radioactivity of a material refers to the rate at which it emits radiation.
At very high doses, radiation can impair the functioning of tissues and organs and produce acute effects such as nausea and vomiting, skin redness, hair loss, acute radiation syndrome, local radiation injuries (also known as radiation burns), or even death, as per World Health Organization%2C%20or%20even%20death.).
Abandoned Explorer continued to vlog his journey visiting the Pripyat amusement park, an abandoned amusement park located in the abandoned city of Pripyat in Ukraine. It was to have its grand opening on 1 May 1986, but these plans were cancelled on 26 April, when the Chernobyl disaster occurred a few kilometers away.
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