Tourists pose for photo on one of ‘most radioactive items’ inside the Chernobyl exclusion zone

Tourists who visited the Chernobyl exclusion zone accidentally got inside one of the most radioactive items still there to pose for a photo.

There was a time when tourists could visit the exclusion zone around the condemned nuclear power plant that infamously exploded in 1986.

Of course, that was before Russia invaded Ukraine two years ago and the area became a warzone, into which nobody should really venture unless they absolutely must.

While it's almost 40 years since the disaster occurred, there's little chance of people going back to the area in large numbers as it's still littered with remnants of the disaster and the subsequent response.

The infamous Elephant's Foot is, of course, still within the ruins of the nuclear power station, while beneath the hospital in Pripyat is the still-radioactive pile of clothes that belonged to the firefighters sent in to tackle the initial blaze.

Other bits of kit are still scattered around the exclusion zone and are radioactive to this day, including a large claw from a digger which was used to clear up radioactive material from the blasted remains of reactor number four.

This is the claw used to move radioactive debris in the aftermath of the Chernobyl disaster. (Sean Gallup/Getty Images)

During a 2019 tour of Pripyat, archaeologist Rob Maxwell took a reading of the radioactive claw with a Geiger counter and found that it was 39.80 microsieverts per hour (uSv/h), making the claw over 100 times more radioactive than the highest standard levels of background radiation.

There's radiation everywhere you go in the world, but this abandoned claw is many magnitudes over the standard, and as such it's not such a good idea to get too close.

However, a pair of tourists visiting Chernobyl were pictured getting up close and personal with the claw, even climbing inside and touching the radioactive debris.

As you can imagine, this was a summarily bad idea. While the time they spent exposed to it is likely not enough to have done them lasting harm, it's a stupendously daft thing to do for a few Instagram likes.

On the bright side, spending a few minutes close to the claw would likely only had led to them absorbing a few microsieverts of radiation, and according to Radiation Answers, that's likely not enough to produce significant health outcomes.

Basically, the women in this picture are probably fine and if they're not... well the health impacts will reveal themselves later on.

It goes without saying that you probably shouldn't get this close. (X/@creepydotorg)

If you spent a couple of hours in the company of the claw your chances of getting cancer would be increased.

Spend the entire day with it and you'd pretty quickly start showing signs of radiation sickness, though you ought to recover if you get prompt medical attention.

However, even if you recover in the short term, your chances of getting cancer in the long run would definitely be increased.

People who've seen the photo have also warned of another data besides the radiation coming from the claw, namely all of the radioactive dust that would be on it, which could get onto someone's clothes through touching it.

Sure, hanging out by the claw for a minute isn't going to kill you but what if you got radioactive material on your clothes and walked around with it clinging to you for hours at a time?

That's a different prospect, and there's a reason why you should definitely not get up close and personal with this claw.