Oklo
Oklo is a region near the town of
Franceville, in the
Haut-Ogooué province of the
Central African state of
Gabon.The discovery in September 1972 of several
Natural nuclear fission reactors in the
uranium mines situated there has fired the imagination and aroused the curiosity of scientists.
Gabon was a French colony when prospectors from the French
nuclear energy commissariat (the industrial parts, which later became the
COGEMA) discovered uranium in the remote region in 1956. France immediately opened mines operated by Comuf (Compagnie des Mines d'Uranium de Franceville) near Mounana village in order to exploit the vast mineral resources and the State of Gabon was given a minority share in the company.
For forty years,
France mined for uranium in Gabon. Once extracted, the uranium was used for electricity production in France and much of
Europe. Gabon's miners half-joked that it was thanks to them that France's high-speed
TGV trains could operate. Today, however, the uranium deposits are exhausted, and the mine is no longer worked. Currently, reclamation work is ongoing in the region affected by the mines operations.
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Oklo: Natural Nuclear Reactors
