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Natural fission reactors in the Franceville basin, Gabon

UniverseHacker

This is such an interesting and weird phenomenon, in the context of the complexity of human made nuclear reactors.

I once read a horrifying fiction story about a pre-industrial culture that used nuclear reactions in open piles of uranium ore tended by slaves as a heat source, but cannot remember the name or author.

Cerium

I remember it having a time travel aspect as well as moderation of reaction via chared tree trunks thrust into the heap.

krunck

This 1976 SciAm article has a lot of info including photos of the mine: https://www.jstor.org/stable/24950391?seq=1