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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 11/07/2006 : 02:25:25
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I love this kind of rare story! This is a weird one, but it appears to be true. (In other words, it's not one of my fake news items.)
The remains of a long-shut-down light-water U-235 fission reactor has been identified in the West African nation of Gabon. During its remarkable operational lifetime -- about 150,000 continuous years -- the reactor is estimated to have produced "the energy equivalent of one hundred Megaton bombs." But it was a primitive reactor by modern standards: At the peak of its operation, the "Oklo reactor" produced a mere trickle of 100 kilowatts of energy at any one time.
But this was not an electric generation plant set up by aliens. Instead, scientists believe the Oklo reactor was entirely natural.quote:
Natural Nuclear Reaction Powered Ancient Geyser
By Michael Schirber
LiveScience Staff Writer
posted: 09 November, 2004
9:00 a.m. ET
With all the complicated engineering and physics needed to build a nuclear reactor, it is rather remarkable that one turned on spontaneously two billion years ago.
Evidence for this natural reactor was found in 1972 at the Oklo mine in the West African country of Gabon. New research confirms that water regulated the nuclear reactions in a cyclic pattern similar to that in a geyser.
Alex Meshik and his colleagues at Washington University of St. Louis have determined that the Oklo reactor, which comprises several separate sites, ran for 30 minutes and then shut off for 2.5 hours, before starting over.
"The time is characteristic of water infiltrating rocks and then being boiled off once reactions started," Meshik told LiveScience.
When the water all boiled away, the reactions stopped until new water percolated back down. This geyser-like activity also prevented a runaway reaction.
"It's amazing it didn't explode," Meshik said. "Instead it released energy in short pulses."
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 11/07/2006 03:27:15
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2006 : 12:01:43 [Permalink]
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Thanks for the link, Dave! Should'a known Wiki would have it already.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2006 : 20:12:18 [Permalink]
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| Hey, since the rates of daughter products of the reactions test certain physical constants for us, the Oklo reactors have shown up in the creation/evolution debate (specifically, when creationists claim that radioactive decay might have been much faster in the past, see claim CF210). That's how I first learned of Oklo, perhaps ten years ago. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2006 : 20:15:37 [Permalink]
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Ten years ago? Wow! I did notice the LiveScience article is a couple of years old, but I'd never heard this stuff. Certainly is solid evidence of a very old earth.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
Posted - 11/07/2006 : 22:08:36 [Permalink]
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| Check the Wiki and the LiveScience article: the evidence for Oklo being a natural nuclear reactor was found in 1972. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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woolytoad
Skeptic Friend
313 Posts |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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JohnOAS
SFN Regular
Australia
800 Posts |
Posted - 11/09/2006 : 03:05:58 [Permalink]
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quote:
Originally posted by Dave W.
Now I just need a bag with a billion dollars in it to be naturally occuring in my living room.
The onbvious solution would be to have many more living rooms. Your odds have got to improve then, right? |
John's just this guy, you know. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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sts60
Skeptic Friend
141 Posts |
Posted - 11/15/2006 : 21:01:56 [Permalink]
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| Scientific American had an excellent article on this a year or two ago. I'll have to see if I have the issue lying around somewhere. |
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