Nuclear Criticality as a Contributor to Gamma Ray Bursts*

Almost 2 billion years ago, the Oklo natural criticality events from Gabon Africa are the strongest evidence we have on the temporal stability of the fine structure constant. The Oklo events also argue that natural nuclear criticality events can and do occur in nature. Given the genesis of transuranic isotopes, it is shown that this is credible and expected in accretion disk material which would give signatures identical to many measured gamma ray burst events. The nuclear reactor physics giving rise to each facet of the measured effects will be reviewed. The nuclear and astrophysics together argue that FRED and other events may be attributed at least in part to this mechanism.