Engineering:Oklo
Oklo is a region near Franceville in the Haut-Ogooué Province of Gabon. Several natural nuclear fission reactors were discovered in the uranium mines in the region in 1972.
Natural nuclear fission reactor
Some of the mined uranium was found to have a lower concentration of uranium-235 than expected, as if it had already been in a nuclear reactor. When geologists investigated they also found products typical of a reactor. They concluded that the deposit had been in a reactor: a natural nuclear fission reactor, around 1.8 to 1.7 billion years BP – in the Paleoproterozoic Era during Precambrian times, during the Statherian period – and continued for a few hundred thousand years, probably averaging less than 100 kW of thermal power during that time. At that time the natural uranium had a concentration of about 3% 235U and could have reached criticality with natural water as neutron moderator allowed by the special geometry of the deposit.[1][2][3][4][5][6][7]
See also
- List of uranium projects
References
- ↑ Kean, Sam (12 July 2010). The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements. Little, Brown. pp. 324–. ISBN 978-0-316-05164-4. https://archive.org/details/disappearingspoo0000kean.
- ↑ Lederman, Leon; Hill, Christopher (2004). Symmetry and the Beautiful Universe. Amherst: Prometheus Books. pp. 40-42. ISBN 9781591022428. https://archive.org/details/symmetrybeautifu00lede/page/40.
- ↑ Zoellner, Tom (2009). Uranium. Viking Penguin. pp. 291–292. ISBN 9780670020645.
- ↑ Cowan, George (1976). "A Natural Fission Reactor". Scientific American 235 (1): 36–47. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0776-36. Bibcode: 1976SciAm.235a..36C. https://www.jstor.org/stable/24950391. Retrieved 15 August 2023.
- ↑ Cowan, George (1976). "Oklo – A Natural Fission Reactor". Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory. https://sgp.fas.org/othergov/doe/lanl/lib-www/la-pubs/00394162.pdf.
- ↑ Gauthier-Lafaye, F.; Holliger, P.; Blanc, P.-L. (December 1996). "Natural fission reactors in the Franceville basin, Gabon: A review of the conditions and results of a 'critical event' in a geologic system". Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta 60 (23): 4831–4852. doi:10.1016/s0016-7037(96)00245-1. ISSN 0016-7037. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0016-7037(96)00245-1.
- ↑ Meshik, Alex P. (2005-11-01). "The Workings of an Ancient Nuclear Reactor" (in en). Scientific American 293 (5): 82–91. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1105-82. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-workings-of-an-ancien/. Retrieved 2024-03-25.
Further reading
- Yucca Mountain Project (YMP) (Nov 2004). "Oklo: Natural Nuclear Reactors". Office of Civilian Radioactive Waste Management (OCRWM). DOE. http://www.ocrwm.doe.gov/factsheets/doeymp0010.shtml.
- Manaugh, Geoff (Dec 8, 2009). "One Million Years of Isolation: An Interview With Abraham Van Lu" (pdf). World Changing. http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/010861.html. Alt URL
[ ⚑ ] 1°23′40″S 13°9′39″E / 1.39444°S 13.16083°E
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