Lessons Learnt from Some Natural Energy Sources

The chapter presents in a systematic manner the lessons learnt from the natural energy systems (NES) and their specific features. The conclusions are based on the evaluation of the risk impact on environment and for the improvement of the risk evaluation methodologies of such systems. A specific feature of the NES is the interdependence between them and society/mankind and the environment. Risk analyses for such systems have specific features underlined while compared with the features of the artificial (man-made) energy systems (MMES). Previous works illustrated in detail the NES versus MMES differences. This chapter presents the main aspects of such a review, when applied to a specific NES, the natural nuclear fission reactor in Oklo, Gabon (NES_Oklo). NES_Oklo operated about two billion years ago for about two hundreds millions of years. The lessons drawn from studying how this reactor was built, operated and self-decommissioned are of high importance for nuclear energy and not only. There are conclusions drawn from the study of Oklo reactor, which seem to shake some taboo issues in Physics, like for instance the light speed limit and other fundamental aspects of Quantum Mechanics, which have also important philosophical implications.