Daily Meh is an edited stream of consciousness, by Simen.

Oklo: Natural Nuclear Reactors

In the Oklo mine in Gabon, West Africa, nature beat physicists by 1.7 billion years. That’s how long ago a natural nuclear reactor started splitting atoms. It’s believed that ground water cooled down the neutrons in the uranium-rich mineral deposit, allowing them to sustain a nuclear chain reaction. The heat from the reaction boiled the water, slowing down the reaction until the water cooled again, repeating the cycle until the chain reaction could no longer be supported. Nature has stored the nuclear waste in place for two billion years:

Once the natural reactors burned themselves out, the highly radioactive waste they generated was held in place deep under Oklo by the granite, sandstone, and clays surrounding the reactors’ areas. Plutonium has moved less than 10 feet from where it was formed almost two billion years ago.