Mysterious 2-billion-year-old nuclear reactor discovered in Africa

There is a location in Africa, where self-sustaining nuclear chain reactions have occurred. To be precise, that is the Oklo natural nuclear reactor in Gabon, two billion years old.

Scientists became aware of this reactor accidentally. In 1972, a worker at a nuclear fuel processing plant noticed a confusing detail about one of three isotopes that analyzed material contained. He noticed a discrepancy in the amount of the Uranium 235 isotope. This particular isotope is needed for a nuclear chain reaction. Scientists at the French Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) were amazed by this discovery.

The usual concentration of this isotope in the earth’s crust, on the moon and even in meteorites is 0.720%, while Oklo samples had only 0.717%. This difference was the reason why the scientist conducted additional testing. Test results showed that a certain amount of Uranium 235 was missing from the mine. They concluded that about 200 kg of Uranium 235 was distracted long time ago. With that amount of Uranium 235, it would be possible to make many nuclear bombs. This discovery intrigued scientist from around the world who then expressed their interest and desire to participate in further research.

It turned out that there was an advanced nuclear reactor under the ground and scientist cannot fully understand and explain this discovery. Estimated age of this reactor is about 1.8 billion years and it is believed that it had been functioning for over 500,000 years. Details about this unusual mine were presented at a conference of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

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