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Title:
Oklo reactors and implications for nuclear science
Authors:
Davis, E. D.; Gould, C. R.; Sharapov, E. I.
Affiliation:
AA(Department of Physics, Kuwait University, P. O. Box 5969 Safat, 13060, Kuwait), AB(Physics Department, North Carolina State University, 2700 Stinson Drive, Raleigh, North Carolina 27695-8202, USA; Triangle Universities Nuclear Laboratory, Durham, North Carolina 27708-0308, USA), AC(Joint Institute for Nuclear Research, 141980 Dubna, Kurchatov str. 6, Moscow region, Russia)
Publication:
International Journal of Modern Physics E, Volume 23, Issue 4, id. 1430007-236 (IJMPE Homepage)
Publication Date:
04/2014
Origin:
WSPC
Keywords:
Oklo, natural nuclear reactors, Monte Carlo simulation, neutron/gamma fluxes, core temperature, nuclear data, nuclear waste depository, time variation fundamental constants
PACS Keywords:
Determination of fundamental constants, Computer modeling and simulation, Coulomb energies, Resonance reactions, 6<, =A<, =19, Neutron transport: diffusion and moderation, Fission reactors
Abstract Copyright:
(c) 2014: World Scientific Publishing Company
DOI:
10.1142/S0218301314300070
Bibliographic Code:
2014IJMPE..2330007D

Abstract

We summarize the nuclear physics interests in the Oklo natural nuclear reactors, focusing particularly on developments over the past two decades. Modeling of the reactors has become increasingly sophisticated, employing Monte Carlo simulations with realistic geometries and materials that can generate both the thermal and epithermal fractions. The water content and the temperatures of the reactors have been uncertain parameters. We discuss recent work pointing to lower temperatures than earlier assumed. Nuclear cross-sections are input to all Oklo modeling and we discuss a parameter, the 175Lu ground state cross-section for thermal neutron capture leading to the isomer 176mLu, that warrants further investigation. Studies of the time dependence of dimensionless fundamental constants have been a driver for much of the recent work on Oklo. We critically review neutron resonance energy shifts and their dependence on the fine structure constant α and the ratio Xq = mq/Λ (where mq is the average of the u and d current quark masses and Λ is the mass scale of quantum chromodynamics (QCD)). We suggest a formula for the combined sensitivity to α and Xq that exhibits the dependence on proton number Z and mass number A, potentially allowing quantum electrodynamic (QED) and QCD effects to be disentangled if a broader range of isotopic abundance data becomes available.
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