"Heavy O" is not a new oat cereal. And we're not talking about the
infamous "I'll have what she's having" shtick of 'When Harry met Sally.'
As mentioned before on Vo, there appears to the amateur observer, to be
somewhat of a 'logical' anomaly in the proportion, and stability of the
heavy isotope of oxygen on earth. 18O is rather plentiful, considering
the remarkable stability and four-alpha makeup of 16O.
That corresponding isotopic ratio of O in space (16O/18O), and in stars,
and in rocks of various ages, is such that it might appear (to this
casual observer at least) from the available data that 18O is somehow
being manufactured over time, compared to its 'natural' proportion
following a stellar nova event.
There is data, not new but recently found with google's help, suggestive
of an explanation- on the 18O formation side, involving carbon.
http://www.tunl.duke.edu/nucldata/HTML/A=18/18O_1959.shtml
Which may reinforce one notion which is missing from present day reactor
design: that there is at least one good additional reason to use a
carbide fuel (over and above its high melting point and its having a
'built-in' moderator.
Not to mention a possible non-military use for the stockpile of depleted
U: that being some kind of a "decay reactor" for providing heat - where
normal alpha decay of a depleted U-carbide is enhanced by a megavolt +
electrostatic field. Quien sabe?
Jones
