Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: The occurrence of more than 15 natural nuclear Reactor Zones (RZ) in a geological environment remains a mystery even 40 years after their discovery. The present work gives for the first time an explanation of the chemical and physical processes that caused the start-up of the fission reactions with two opposite processes, uranium enrichments and progressive impoverishment in 235 U. Based on Monte-Carlo neutronics simulations, a solution space was defined taking into account realistic combinations of relevant parameters acting on geological conditions and neutron transport physics. This study explains criticality occurrence, operation, expansion and end of life conditions of Oklo natural nuclear reactors, from the smallest to the biggest ones.
Source: Comptes Rendus Géoscience
Institutions: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Laboratoire d’HYdrologie et de GEochimie, Université de Strasbourg, Institut Pluridisciplinaire Hubert Curien, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules, Centre de Recherche Nucléaire d’Alger, École Normale Supérieure de Kouba
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear Energy and Engineering
Field: Energy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W1977124225