How can we be mining for radio active material if the earth was formed so long ago, would these materials not have run the course of depletion already? or is man kind creating them ? like Uranium or Plutonium
In: Chemistry
Also fun fact. For nuclear power the percentage of U-235 needs to be 3-5 percent. It is currently about 0.72 percent in natural uranium.
About 1.7 Billion years ago the natural percentage WAS around 3-5 percent. In certain places in the world there were areas of natural uranium that got flooded with water, which is a neutron moderator. Allowing the natural neutrons to slow down and collide with other uranium atoms, causing a chain reaction. Creating [Natural Nuclear Reactors](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_nuclear_fission_reactor). We found them because as we were mining there was missing U-235, it was coming out at .6% instead of .72%. Which was a major issues as the first though is where did it go? Did someone steal it and fudge the percentages.
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