Naked Science Forum
Non Life Sciences => Physics, Astronomy & Cosmology => Topic started by: Pseudoscience-is-malarkey on 25/02/2024 15:09:14
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Is there a scenario of a place in the universe that has conditions where plutonium is created naturally? Or is it pretty clear that it can only exist through the intervention of an illegent specie?
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Or is it pretty clear that it can only exist through the intervention of an illegent specie?
An illegent specie is not required since trace amounts of naturally occurring Plutonium can be found in uranium deposits.
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The half life of the longest lived plutonium isotope is too short for any substantial quantities to exist given the age of the earth. As 0rigin has pointed it is found in trace amounts.
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Hi.
All the heavy elements were once thought to have been made in Supernova explosions. In principle any element you can think of, some of that could be made under the conditions of a supernova.
More recently it's been thought that supernovae aren't the only place where heavy elements are made. Modern conjecture is that most heavy elements are made during neutron star mergers and this may actually be the main Astronomical process that produces most of the heavy elements.
There are also some more possibilities that exist on our own planet rather then out in space and under extreme conditions. There is a region known as the Oklo natural reactor - this is essentially some caves in Gabon, Africa that were rich in Uranium isotopes and used to flood with water. The water acted as a moderator and you effectively had a natural nuclear reactor. The Uranium isotopes mainly involved in the natural fission reactions would have been U-235 but natural Uranium is always a mixture of isotopes. So the U-239 that was present would absorb neutrons and follow the usual path to form Plutonium just as in a man-made nuclear reactor. Analysis of the rocks from the Oklo natural reactor did reveal higher than average concentrations of Plutonium. Nature made some Plutonium all on its own right here on our planet.
In 1972, chemical analysis showed an unusually low concentration of uranium-235 in the ore mined in the Oklo open pit mine. However, there were high concentrations of elements like cesium, curium, americium and even plutonium to be found.
[Taken from https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidbressan/2018/08/14/two-billion-year-old-natural-reactor-may-holds-key-for-safe-nuclear-waste-disposal/ ]
Best Wishes.