Astronomy Picture of the Day

Oklo: Ancient African Nuclear Reactors


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zorg.ch
#67600 by @ 21.02.2005 00:00 - nach oben -
Oklo: Ancient African Nuclear Reactors


Explanation:
The remnants of
nuclear reactors nearly two billion years old were
found in the 1970s in Africa.

These reactors are thought to have occurred naturally.

No natural reactors exist today, as the relative density of
fissile

uranium has now decayed below that needed for a
sustainable reaction.

Pictured above is Fossil Reactor 15, located in
Oklo,
Gabon.

Uranium oxide remains are visible as the yellowish rock.

Oklo by-products are being used today to
probe the stability of the
fundamental constants over cosmological
time-scales and to develop more effective means
for disposing of human-manufactured
nuclear waste.




Credit & Copyright
zorg.ch
#67624 by @ 21.02.2005 14:50 - nach oben -
Zorgsche Höhlenexpedition... :-)
zorg.ch
#67625 by @ 21.02.2005 15:00 - nach oben -
isch scho lang her gsi...
zorg.ch
#67626 by @ 21.02.2005 15:03 - nach oben -
Wär enart mol was! Gäb eini bim Walensee..
zorg.ch
#67639 by @ 21.02.2005 18:31 - nach oben -
machsch mol en event uf. oder nöd?!?