Oklo natural reactor, Gabon Africa

The Oklo natural reactor in Gabon, Africa, is a high-grade sandstone-hosted U deposit. It was formed about... 

It may seem unlikely that all these conditions could have been met, but at least one deposit of uranium ore has characteristics indicating that, long ago, it operated as a natural nuclear reactor. At Oklo in the Gabon Republic near the western coast of equatorial Africa (see photo), there are uranium deposits of high purity... 

There are indications that this method will isolate the waste until the radioactivity decays to safe levels. One reassuring indication comes from the natural fission reactor at Oklo in Gabon, Africa. Initiated about 2 billion years ago when uranium in ore deposits there formed a critical mass, the reactor produced fission and fusion products for several thousand years. Although some of these products have migrated away from the site in the intervening 2 billion years, most have stayed in place. Another indication of the possible success of... 

Some billion years ago natural nuclear reactors must have operated and generated Tc as a high yield fission product by induced fission of with slow neutrons. The relics of a natural reactor were discovered in 1972 at the Oklo uranium mines in the Republic of Gabon, Africa. lire Oklo phenomenon occurred 1.72 billion years ago and produced a greater amount of Tc than detected in other uranium ores [20. Ruf-fenach et al. [21] reported values of integrated flux of thermal neutrons for the Oklo uranium ores of up to 1. . 2 10 n cm and a atomic ratio down to 0.00410,... 

It is interesting to note that the natural nuclear reactor discovered in Oklo, Gabon, Africa, operated for about 7 x 10 years and released about 15 GW years of energy about 1.8 x 10 years ago. The study showed that the fission products could lie immobile in the ground at the original reactor site during these many years. It is evident that responsible disposal of nuclear waste is feasible and will eventually be accomplished. 

Neptunium is usually formed in nuclear reactors. However, there are some instances of neptunium occurring naturally such as at Oklo in Gabon, Africa. 

Radioactivity, radioactive elements and nuclear reactors are found in nature. There are at least 14 natural fission reactors in the Oklo-Okelobon-do natural uranium formation in Gabon on the west coast of Africa. These fossil reactors had sufficient amounts of U-235 to allow chain reactions to... 

In 1972, evidence of a past "natural nuclear reactor" was found by a French mining geologist while assaying uranium samples in a uranium mine at Oklo, Gabon, West Africa It "went critical" about 1.7 billion years ago, released 15,000 megawatt-years of energy by consuming six tons of uranium, and was critical (at low power) for several hundred thousand years. 

One namral analogue for geological disposal of nuclear waste is at a site near Oklo, Gabon, West Africa. About 2 billion yr ago, a uranium ore body sustained fission for a period of about 100,000 yr. Most of the fission and activation products from this namral reactor migrated only a short distance from the fission sites, which gives natural supporting evidence for the potential of radionuclide transport from underground waste disposal facilities. 

---