TIL There's a 1.7 Billion Year Old Naturally Occuring Fission Reactor in Africa
TIL There's a 1.7 Billion Year Old Naturally Occuring Fission Reactor in Africa
en.m.wikipedia.org
Oklo Mine - Wikipedia
28 comments
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It is estimated to have averaged under 100 kW of thermal power
I don't know what I expected but its does not seem much, its like the energy of 100 space heater
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100kW can raise the temperature of 1L of water from 20C to 100C in 3.34 seconds. It's enough power to brew about 300 shots of espresso in 30 seconds. That seems like a lot to me.
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That was a neat read, thanks!
28 comments
the reaction is no longer active
Which is how we know it's safe to bury nuclear waste.
No. It just means the chain reaction stopped and it's no longer in uncontrolled meltdown. It's still emitting a ton of radioactivity though.
Is it a reaction, then?
It was. It no longer is.
The reason I added this comment at all, was I felt the headline title was a little misleading. We have evidence, of a naturally occurring fission reaction on Earth, a long long time ago.