It is widely believed that the origin of the earth was about 4.6 billion years, and then, after about a billion years, life began to take shape. If you're wondering where this number came from: roughly speaking, scientists came up with such numbers by finding the "oldest" part of the planet, and then found out how old it is through scientific methods. Of course, the search for the oldest part of the planet is not easy, because the Earth always plunges rocks into magma, and then pushes new formations back to the surface.
So what if we think for a moment that this method of dating the age of the planet is not reliable, perhaps we did not find the oldest part of the Earth, or radiocarbon dating is not as reliable as we think. What if the Earth is much older than we thought.
“Two billion years ago, a uranium deposit in Africa spontaneously underwent nuclear fission,” sounds like a myth. Maybe because the word "reactor" usually implies an artificial design. But in this case, it represents a region of natural uranium in the earth's crust found in Oklo (Gabon, Africa). Uranium is, of course, radioactive, and the data from this rocky area has proven suitable for some nuclear reaction.
Oklo: an underestimated cosmic phenomenon
In 1972, French scientists discovered that several naturally occurring concentrations of uranium ore had become critical and erupted roughly 2 billion years ago in Oklo. The concentration and configuration of natural uranium and surrounding materials were appropriate at the time to sustain fission. In fact, analysis of the nuclear waste in the burnt rocks showed that plutonium had also been created. This means that natural reactors are also possible, which increases the likelihood of hitherto underestimated, long-lived heat sources deep in the Earth, other planets and inside some stars.
Do not worry that the Oklo phenomenon may occur today on the surface of the planet. The concentration of fissile U-235 has dropped significantly over the past couple of billion years due to its radioactive decay. But, deep within the Earth and other celestial bodies, nuclear criticality is still possible due to different pressures, densities, and so on. Nuclear reactors emit abundant mutagenic radiation. They, for example, could accelerate the evolution of life, especially during the Cambrian explosion.
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Deep natural nuclear reactors can create thermal plumes, which are possibly responsible for surface hotspots such as Iceland and Hawaii.
The natural reactor, of course, interested nuclear scientists: the first nuclear reactor for generating electricity appeared in 1951, and this led to only a trivial amount of energy. On the other hand, a pile of rock in Oklo's earth created nuclear energy about 2 billion years ago!
Is it possible that a modern uranium mine in Africa was actually a nuclear facility created by some advanced, prehistoric civilization? While some scholars insist that the object originated "naturally," there are other credible sources that challenge this belief.
Scientists' opinions
Typically, uranium ore contains three types of uranium isotopes with different numbers of neutrons:
- uranium 238 is the most abundant;
- U234 is the rarest;
- U235 - in it scientists are most interested - it can promote nuclear chain reactions.
Almost fifty years ago, a French mining company imported uranium ore from Oklo, but a problem arose: the uranium content from the ore seemed to have been recovered. The material was supposed to contain 0.7 percent U235, and the ore had only 0.3 percent.
This tiny discrepancy was enough to alert French researchers that something strange was happening. Scientists from all over the world gathered to study the phenomenon, and their conclusion was simply amazing. They concluded that the uranium mine was a kind of highly developed nuclear reactor, far superior to what modern nuclear technology can provide.
Francis Perrin, a French physicist, along with other scientists, concluded that the uranium samples from the Oklo site had the same isotope levels as found in nuclear waste from modern nuclear power plants.
While several experts agreed that natural sources never have enough U235 to trigger a natural reaction, the question arose: how did U235 get depleted?
Many scientists found this conclusion incredible and labeled the seemingly artificial phenomenon as "miraculous" but "natural," while others concluded that this attitude could not have happened naturally and, therefore, had to be created by man. Their findings were discussed at the Atomic Energy Agency Conference.
One renowned scientist, Dr. Glen Seaborg, has expressed his reservations about the object being "natural." He explained that the water used in a nuclear reactor must be too pure - much cleaner than any natural water. Even the slightest contamination, such as a few parts per million, would "poison" the reaction, stopping it.
The reactor was perfectly preserved and its location was very reasonable. Research has shown that it has been in operation for about 500,000 years. In addition, the nuclear waste generated in it did not spread to all surrounding areas. Thus, the phenomenon must be created artificially, in other words, man-made. In fact, there were no other possible explanations.
From a scientific point of view, this object deserves a deep study. Understanding how it works has the potential to help modern nuclear energy technologies.
Was this ancient reactor just a natural miracle, as many publications claim, or could it have been built by a bygone civilization millions of years ago? What thoughts do you have about this, write in the comments.