Nuclear chain reactions with heavy-water moderation

Heavy-water reactors utilize heavy water (D2O) as a moderator. They can be operated with natural uranium, since the capture cross-section for the thermal neutrons, necessary for controlling nuclear chain reactions, is very low for D2O compared with H2O. Enrichment of U is therefore not necessary. The high price of heavy water (only present as 0.015% in natural water) is, however, a disadvantage. The resulting higher investment costs... 

The logical explanation for the low percentages of U-235 was that a nuclear fission reaction at the mine must have consumed some of the U-235 isotopes. But how did this happen There are several conditions under which such a nuclear fission reaction could take place. In the presence of heavy water, for example, a chain reaction is possible with unenriched uranium. Without heavy water, such a fission reaction could still occur if the uranium ore and the moderator were arranged according to some specific geometric constraints at the site of the reaction. Both of the possibilities seem rather farfetched. The most plausible explanation is that the uranium ore originally present in the mine was enriched with U-235 and that a nuclear fission reaction took place with light water, as in a conventional nuclear reactor. 

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