A group of YouTubers went diving with a DIY scuba outfit under the radioactive Chernobyl power unit.
Yeah, I know, that sounds like some mad story I’ve just generated on a wheel, but these people really seemed to have done just that.
Uploaded to YouTube by Kreosan English back in 2021, the group went to the spot in Ukraine where the power plant’s Reactor Number Four exploded in April 1986.
Nowadays, the area is the most radioactive place on Earth with an entire Chernobyl Exclusion Zone where people aren’t supposed to live.
But this group decided to go into the ‘maze’ under the buildings of the power unit where the channels are flooded.
They even made a wet suit. (@kreosann / YouTube)
Paddling along the water in small inflatable boats, they later used their ‘homemade’ equipment to go under the water. And that basically includes a big bowl made of ‘heavy-duty, thick tempered glass’, which pretty much looks like a helmet a cartoon astronaut would wear.
They then used tubes and a boat pump to help the diver breathe underwater, attached with cello tape. Like we said, it’s very much DIY.
And because the water is so cold, they wrap him up in a ‘west suit’ using ‘stretch film’, literally wrapping his body with the stuff.
A camera was then strapped to his head as his makeshift helmet was pumped with air and 20kg worth of weights were tied onto him.
He couldn’t see anything. (@kreosann / YouTube)
As he stepped into the water, he slowly submerged but couldn’t see much more than more steps and darkness.
“I can’t see anything,” the diver said as he tried to use a torch to explore the ‘really cold’ water. There really didn’t seem to be much more to see as he said ‘nothing is visible’ and returned to the surface.
“You can’t see anything, the water is muddy,” he explained as he added that there were ‘animals’ at the bottom and it felt ‘like space’.
Adding extra weights, he went down again in an attempt to get deeper. However, this time, the helmet quickly filled up with water and he had to resurface.
He was surprised, however, how warm the makeshift suit kept him, even if they struggled to see anything under the water at all.
After their visit, they went to the hospital to check for radiation.
The nurse found that the highest score from anyone was 590, ‘but this is absolutely not a significant indicator’.
“It’s dangerous when it’s one, but we have a reference of 0.1,” she explained to them.
The nurse also advised them to have a general blood test to make sure everything ‘is normal’.
