What is the nuclear energy ecosystem learned from the "Okuro natural nuclear reactor" that existed on the earth two billion years ago?

ByRodrigo Gómez Sanz

Nuclear power generation capable of creating a large amount of energy is a relationship that can not be separated from the difficulty of control and waste disposal. From the viewpoint of how to utilize nuclear energy as an energy source, the nuclear reactor created by the natural world "Okuro's natural reactorIt seems to be said that there are still many things to learn from.

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In 1972, in the uranium ore produced from the oklo deposit of the Republic of Gabon of AfricaUranium 235It was discovered that the isotope ratio of extremely low is found, and France, which used to colonize Gabon once, was suspected that "Oklo's uranium was secretly diverted to nuclear weapons" I investigated to eliminate this doubt. According to the survey, oku uranium deposits including rare earths constitute a composition ratio which is quite different from other deposits and the decrease of uranium 235 is exactly the same as the phenomenon occurring in nuclear reactors, The conclusion that led to the conclusion that the deposit was "natural nuclear reactor" once was "Okuro's natural reactorIt is thought that autonomous fission reaction occurred in the natural state for a long period of 300,000 years ago from about 2 billion years ago.

This is a cross section of Okuro's natural nuclear reactor. The white part is the uranium deposit, the black part is the nuclear reaction zone.


It is cited as to why uranium 235 exceeding 3% was present in uranium up to 2 billion years ago as to why the very special state called "nuclear reactor" occurred in nature. This value is close to the threshold value of enriched uranium in modern nuclear reactors. In addition, it is thought that uranium is the water insoluble only in the presence of oxygen, that the fact that the concentration of oxygen in the atmosphere was not high enough before 2 billion years was the reason why uranium did not gather in one place before that It is done.

The energy created by Okuro's natural nuclear reactor is considered to be 100 kW on average, and this output is not much different from the energy obtained by medium-scale solar power generation, and a large amount of energy output from a nuclear power plant It is small enough not to compare with. However, Okuro's natural nuclear reactor is believed to have stably discharged energy of the same level as that obtained by solar power generation for a long period of about 300,000 years, and it was an exquisite ecosystem I can say that.


It is said that "water" is the key to the mechanism that Okuro natural nuclear reactor continues to create energy stably. Recent nuclear reactors use neutrons to utilize natural uraniumModeratorUse heavy water forHeavy water reactorInstead of using light water (moderate water) for the moderatorLight water reactorHas become mainstream. This is because cost can be kept low because ordinary water can be used in place of expensive heavy water, and there is merit that water can be utilized not only as a moderator but also as a coolant. Okuro's natural nuclear reactor also knows that it was functioning as a "light water reactor" using water as a moderator.

Oklo's natural light reactor "light water reactor mechanism" is a site where groundwater infiltrates into a uranium deposit and water functions as a neutron moderator, so that a nuclear fission reaction occurs where the groundwater is evaporated by the heat generated by the nuclear reaction and the reaction After that, nuclear reaction has ended in a cycle in which groundwater flows in again and fission reaction occurs again when the temperature of the uranium deposit lowers. In other words, the groundwater that underwent a nuclear reaction was removed as soon as a nuclear reaction occurred, and the energy was created in the wind as the nuclear reaction again occurred after a certain period of time. In addition, it is estimated that nuclear fission was a cycle of activating for 30 minutes and then pausing for 180 minutes.

ByDimitar Krstevski

Since the nuclear reaction energy generated by Okuro's natural nuclear reactor is enough to make the earth burned, if it were possible to make a nuclear reactor that can stably extract energy for a long period with the same mechanism, It is more evident than looking at fire that it is beneficial for the human society in need of energy.

Many people tend to have the illusion of "artificially creating a state superior to the natural state" while the science and technology is highly developed, but human beings are far away from the world of birth. Knowing the natural nuclear reactor and understanding its system is a good opportunity to fundamentally review the current state of nuclear power plants that are forced to keep dangerous radioactive waste deeply in the ground for thousands of years It is likely to become.