Wednesday, March 03, 2010

Nuclear Power is Natural

Two billion years ago in Gabon uranium-rich rock and water found itself in an appropriate arrangement to create a natural nuclear reactor. It appears that the reactor was critical for a few hundred thousand years. Sixteen other sites have been found around the world where similar things have happened and there may be many more. Somehow the "waste" leftovers from those natural reactors managed to stay securely ensconced in the geologic formations in which they formed for the two billion years since without harming the planet. It looks like long-term high-level storage has already been demonstrated.

No comments: