USA: Aaron Sidder using SCBA gear to survey the Bitter Creek mine. Survey team includes Dillon Metcalf, Ethan Sandoval and Aaron Sidder. THESE FEARLES


USA: Aaron Sidder using SCBA gear to survey the Bitter Creek mine. Survey team includes Dillon Metcalf, Ethan Sandoval and Aaron Sidder. THESE FEARLESS explorers have braved a uranium mine with radiation levels over ONE-THOUSAND TIMES higher than what is considered safe. Eerie images revealed researchers as they explored through the claustrophobic mile-long mine to search for bats, with another picture showing the only wildlife they could spot ? a single snake. Another fascinating image showed the effect of uranium on rocks, which was yellowed by exposure to the high radon levels of 5,400 pCi/L (picocuries per litre of air) in the mine ? over 1,350 times the safe limit of four pCi/L. The rocks would have been cancerous to humans if crushed. The extraordinary pictures were captured by adventure photographer, Bill Hatcher (60) from Tuscon, Arizona, USA, who spent 45-minutes in the mine at a depth of 160-feet underground. The disused Buckshot Uranium Mine of Naturita, Colorado, USA, which is 350-miles from Denver, shut in the 1970s, and has since been closed to public access with deathly deep holes and dangerous radiation levels. mediadrumimages/@bhatcherphoto/Bill Hatcher


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Keywords: abandoned, amazing, danger, dangerous, drum, explore, explorers, incredible, mdrum, mdrumf, mdw, mdwf, mdwfeatures, media, mediadrumworld., mining, radioactive, radons, uranium, world