
The Workings of an Ancient Nuclear Reactor - jwb119
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=ancient-nuclear-reactor
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jmatt
This is quite the intriguing science mystery. I really enjoyed it. And it
ended with a possibility of some pragmatic benefits too:

 _Oklo also demonstrates a way to store some forms of nuclear waste that were
once thought to be almost impossible to prevent from contaminating the
environment. Since the advent of nuclear power generation, huge amounts of
radioactive xenon 135, krypton 85 and other inert gases that nuclear plants
generate have been released into the atmosphere. Nature’s fission reactors
suggest the possibility of locking those waste products away in aluminum
phosphate minerals, which have a unique ability to capture and retain such
gases for billions of years._

Excellent!

