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Before the Elephant’s Foot: True Story of Chernobyl’s Reactor Explorers | Chornobyl Uncharted Ep 22

What happened inside the Chernobyl Sarcophagus after 1986? Where was the missing nuclear fuel? And who were the first people to go in? In this episode of Chornobyl Uncharted, we reveal the untold story of the Soviet scientists and nuclear experts who became the first explorers of Reactor 4 — after the explosion, after the fires, and after the construction of the Shelter. Led by the Kurchatov Institute of Atomic Energy, these early missions faced deadly radiation, pitch darkness, and structural chaos. Using boreholes, detectors, periscopes, and even a robot built from a toy rover, they began the search for the melted nuclear core — and unknowingly discovered what would later be known as the Elephant’s Foot.

But, that was just the beginning. With newly translated reports from Oleksandr Borovoi and Volodymyr Shykalov, we follow their first steps into the ruins of Unit IV, the surprising data they uncovered, and the moment they realized: the reactor shaft was nearly empty. This is the true story of the people who dared to enter the Sarcophagus first — and what they found inside.

April 26, 2025 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | Uncategorized