4 ms·

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

by _yb2s 2y ago

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 2y ago
I remember it having a time travel aspect as well as moderation of reaction via chared tree trunks thrust into the heap.
anticnstrctv 2y ago
That anecdote is present in the Manifold series by Stephen Baxter
- _yb2s 2y ago
  Thanks! That makes sense, I have read that series, but didn't remember that was where this was from.
  - adamesque 2y ago
    Manifold Space specifically (unless it’s also present in his other Manifold books)
sandworm101 2y ago
It seems less odd when one realizes how common uranium actually is. Today, it is about as common as tin. Knowing that, there were probably lots of undiscovered places where the density got high enough to fission. Much of the earth's internal heat comes from fission. We only get interested when it happens near the surface.
- klodolph 2y ago
  > Knowing that, there were probably lots of undiscovered places where the density got high enough to fission. Density of U235, specifically… you could crystallize pure uranium in the Earth’s crust today, and it would not be enriched enough for a nuclear reactor.
- adrian_b 2y ago
  Uranium is one of the elements that are greatly enriched in the continental crust of the Earth (like also thorium and the rare-earth metals). So in the continental crust the abundance of uranium is more than one hundred times greater than the average abundance of uranium in the entire Earth or in the Solar System. Otherwise uranium would have been almost the least abundant chemical element, as it is on average in the entire Solar System. Tin is among the metals that are depleted in the crust of the Earth. Elsewhere tin is a few hundred times more abundant than uranium. A continental crust like on Earth can appear only on planets that have been melted, so that the light and heavy minerals have combined and separated by density, with the continental crust floating over the molten magma and then solidifying. Most of the Earth has been melted by the collision that has formed the Moon, but possibly also by other smaller collisions. In most other places in the Solar System it will be unlikely to find so easily accessible and abundant uranium as here on Earth.
idoubtit 2y ago
> I once read a horrifying fiction story about a pre-industrial culture that used nuclear reactions in open piles of uranium ore The real world was worse than this fiction. It's easy to find pictures of old advertisements for radioactive products, in the years following the discovery of radioactivity. Radioactive pills "to boost your energy", radioactive cosmetics, radioactive false teeth... Now imagine what happened to the people that used these.
- s1artibartfast 2y ago
  I dont think that is worse.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]
- LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Susana_Field_Laboratory#Sodium_burn_pits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Susana_Field_Laboratory#... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackass_Flats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackass_Flats https://coloradosun.com/2020/12/29/grand-junction-cold-war-nuclear-waste-dump/ https://coloradosun.com/2020/12/29/grand-junction-cold-war-n... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination_from_the_Rocky_Flats_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination_from... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyshtym_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyshtym_disaster https://www.gw2ru.com/history/3317-kyshtym-accident-radiation-disaster https://www.gw2ru.com/history/3317-kyshtym-accident-radiatio... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreev_Bay_nuclear_accident#An_uncontrolled_chain_reaction_during_the_cleanup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreev_Bay_nuclear_accident#A... A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 - by Isao Hashimoto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY or https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Time/index.html?appid=b8540a8a2500472c8037bdd2a35c4be0 https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Time/index.html?appid=b8540a8a25...
- _yb2s 2y ago
  Those real world early uses of nuclear technology were indeed awful- nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll comes to mind, which did intentional treatment vs. non-treatment experiments on the Marshall Islanders. Even that is nothing close to the fiction I am talking about, having a class of slaves that operate a fully open nuclear reactor with hand tools.

by _yb2s 2y ago

Cerium 2y ago

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

anticnstrctv 2y ago

That anecdote is present in the Manifold series by Stephen Baxter

_yb2s 2y ago
Thanks! That makes sense, I have read that series, but didn't remember that was where this was from.
- adamesque 2y ago
  Manifold Space specifically (unless it’s also present in his other Manifold books)

sandworm101 2y ago

It seems less odd when one realizes how common uranium actually is. Today, it is about as common as tin. Knowing that, there were probably lots of undiscovered places where the density got high enough to fission. Much of the earth's internal heat comes from fission. We only get interested when it happens near the surface.

klodolph 2y ago
> Knowing that, there were probably lots of undiscovered places where the density got high enough to fission. Density of U235, specifically… you could crystallize pure uranium in the Earth’s crust today, and it would not be enriched enough for a nuclear reactor.
adrian_b 2y ago
Uranium is one of the elements that are greatly enriched in the continental crust of the Earth (like also thorium and the rare-earth metals). So in the continental crust the abundance of uranium is more than one hundred times greater than the average abundance of uranium in the entire Earth or in the Solar System. Otherwise uranium would have been almost the least abundant chemical element, as it is on average in the entire Solar System. Tin is among the metals that are depleted in the crust of the Earth. Elsewhere tin is a few hundred times more abundant than uranium. A continental crust like on Earth can appear only on planets that have been melted, so that the light and heavy minerals have combined and separated by density, with the continental crust floating over the molten magma and then solidifying. Most of the Earth has been melted by the collision that has formed the Moon, but possibly also by other smaller collisions. In most other places in the Solar System it will be unlikely to find so easily accessible and abundant uranium as here on Earth.

idoubtit 2y ago

> I once read a horrifying fiction story about a pre-industrial culture that used nuclear reactions in open piles of uranium ore The real world was worse than this fiction. It's easy to find pictures of old advertisements for radioactive products, in the years following the discovery of radioactivity. Radioactive pills "to boost your energy", radioactive cosmetics, radioactive false teeth... Now imagine what happened to the people that used these.

s1artibartfast 2y ago
I dont think that is worse.
deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
LargoLasskhyfv 2y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Susana_Field_Laboratory#Sodium_burn_pits https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Susana_Field_Laboratory#... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackass_Flats https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackass_Flats https://coloradosun.com/2020/12/29/grand-junction-cold-war-nuclear-waste-dump/ https://coloradosun.com/2020/12/29/grand-junction-cold-war-n... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination_from_the_Rocky_Flats_Plant https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioactive_contamination_from... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windscale_fire https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyshtym_disaster https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyshtym_disaster https://www.gw2ru.com/history/3317-kyshtym-accident-radiation-disaster https://www.gw2ru.com/history/3317-kyshtym-accident-radiatio... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreev_Bay_nuclear_accident#An_uncontrolled_chain_reaction_during_the_cleanup https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andreev_Bay_nuclear_accident#A... A Time-Lapse Map of Every Nuclear Explosion Since 1945 - by Isao Hashimoto https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LLCF7vPanrY or https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Time/index.html?appid=b8540a8a2500472c8037bdd2a35c4be0 https://www.arcgis.com/apps/Time/index.html?appid=b8540a8a25...
_yb2s 2y ago
Those real world early uses of nuclear technology were indeed awful- nuclear testing at Bikini Atoll comes to mind, which did intentional treatment vs. non-treatment experiments on the Marshall Islanders. Even that is nothing close to the fiction I am talking about, having a class of slaves that operate a fully open nuclear reactor with hand tools.