Analysis of information sources in references of the Wikipedia article "Elephant's Foot (Chernobyl)" in English language version.
The radiation level near it was approximately 8,000 roentgens per hour in 1986. Even five minutes spent near the 'foot' would have killed a man ... the substance failed to yield to a drill mounted on a special remote-controlled truck ... A skilled marksman ... fired armor-piercing bullets into it ... Analysis of the fragments obtained in this way showed that they consisted of 70–90% silicon dioxide (fused sand), 2–10% fuel particles, and, in addition, contained graphite (hence the black color), metal alloys, and so on ...