Fission product retention in newly discovered organic-rich natural fission reactors at Oklo and Bangombe, Gabon

The discovery of naturally occurring fission reactors in the rock strata of the Paleoproterozoic Francevillian Basin in the Republic of Gabon in equatorial West Africa led to several programs to define migration and/or retention of uranium and fissiogenic isotopes from/in the natural reactor zones. Although much understanding has been gained, new insight is needed regarding the chemical and physical parameters that control movement and retention of fission products over almost two billion years from/in the natural reactors. Seventeen known natural fission reactors sustained criticality for 0.1 to 1 million years in hydrothermally altered sedimentary rocks 1968 +/- 50 million years ago. These natural nuclear reactors attained criticality because of high concentrations of uranium in small pockets in uranium ores, the lack of neutron poisons, and because at the time they reached criticality, the abundance of 235U was five times greater than it is today. Water acted as a moderator, and temperature in the natural reactors was between 160 and 360 degrees C. Both the uranium-rich pockets and the uranium ore bodies in which these pockets are located were formed when aqueous solutions moving through highly fractured zones in the Francevillian sedimentary rocks met organic-rich sediments. This resulted in the reduction of U(VI) in the dissolved uranyl ions to U(IV), causing the precipitation of pitchblende and uraninite. It has been proposed that between 2.2 and 1.9 billion years ago, the earth's atmosphere experienced a remarkable temporary rise in O2 content; this event may account for the uranium-bearing, oxidizing aqueous solutions in the Francevillian rocks