The Oklo, Gabon, Natural Fission Reactor

Papers and Reports

The natural nuclear reactor found at Oklo, Gabon, is the best known of this phenomena. Many excellant descriptions of it are to be found across the internet, so I will not attempt to repeat them here.

A naturally occurring nuclear chain reaction is no longer possible on earth, as the neutrons released by the chain reaction cannot be moderated sufficiently, and a sufficient concentration of uranium maintained, at a U-235 enrichment of 0.7%. Millions of years ago, before radioactive decay reduced its concentration relative to U-238, natural fission reactors were possible.

What is presented here is a collection of research reports that touch on the Oklo reactor. Some are no longer freely available to the public after the National Laboratories closed their electronic libraries to the public after 9/11. None of the research is in any way restricted at the time of their download. They make facinating reading, and many require a bit of thought to be understood, being written and meant for people with advanced degrees.

If you have similar reports in electronic format, and wish to share them with others, please contact me [psch(a)optonline.net] and I will add them to this collection. You will be listed as the donar of the paper. I ask that the papers be available for free public distribution and not be classified, or have a copyright whose holder does not grant the right to free distribution.

File Name Title Date
LA-6310-MS oklo - A Natural Fission Reactor April 1976
LA-6575-PR Investigations of the Oklo Natural Fission Reactor - July 1975–June 1976 November 1976
LA-7536-PR Investigations of the Natural Fission Reactor Program - October 1977–September 1978 October 1978
LA-7658-PR Oklo—Natural Fission Reactor Program - October 1–December 31, 1978 February 1979
LA-7816-PR Oklo-Natural Fission Reactor Program - January 1—March 31, 1979 May 1979
LA-8054-PR Oklo - Natural Fission Reactor Program - April 1–June 30, 1979 September 1979
LA-8189-PR Oklo - Natural Fission Reactor Program - July 1—September 30, 1979 January 1980
LA-8281-PR Oklo - Natural Fission Reactor Program - October 1 - December 31, 1979 March 1980
LA-8479-PR Oklo - Natural Fission Reactor Program - January 1 - March 31, 1980 August 1980
LA-8644-PR Oklo Natural Fission Reactor Program - April 1 - August 31, 1980 December 1980
Okloreactor The Natural Nuclear Reactor At Oklo: A Comparison With Modern Nuclear Reactors April 16, 2005
BNL--49330 Atomic weight and isotopic abundance data analysis 1993 1993 Aug 01
BNL--74881-2005-CP The Atomic Weights Commission and Isotopic Abundance Ratio Determinations. 2005 Aug 07
ANL-89_9 Isotopic Anomalies in High Z Elements: Uranium March 1989
K-1462 Variations In The Uranium-235 Content Of Fifteen Ores January 19, 1961
LA-9377-PR Natural Repository Analogue Program - January 1 - March 30,1982 June 1982
LA-UR--93-4253 Radionuclide Releases From Natural Analogues Of Spent Nuclear Fuel December 12-16, 1993
838905 The epsilon Phase in the UO2 of the Oklo Natural Reactors 2005 Mar 31
840168 Fate of the epsilon phase in the Oklo natural reactors September 18-23,2005
OSTI ID 860243 The Fate of the Epsilon Phase In UO2 of the Oklo Natural Fission Reactors 15 August 2005
DOI 10_2172_840168 Fate of the Epsilon Phase in the Oklo Natural Reactors 2005 Sep 08
LA-UR--98-196 Nature`s uncommon elements: Plutonium and technetium 1998 Jan 06
epsilon_phase_in_UO2 The epsilon phase in the UO2 of the OMo natural reactors May 20-25, 2005