[petuniasevan]

I just know that someone will visit this thread and complain that the subject matter is off-topic.
Hey, I only mirror the site; I don't choose the APOD.

Astronomy Fun Fact:

Actually it's not really off-topic. We know that very heavy elements such as uranium are probably only synthesized in supernovae. No scientific discipline stands alone.

Oklo was a BREEDER reactor - it made more fissionables than it consumed. Very odd; only its long "run" made this possible. Plutonium it had "bred" decayed back to U-235!

Did you recently hear news of a theory that says Earth's core itself may be a reactor? Interesting to say the least! And the Oklo natural reactor played a part in the concept! Here's a link: Giant Nuclear Reactor May Run Earth's Magnetic Field

[petuniasevan]

A real treat for the physics/geology crowd today...

[Graewoulf]

If "no natural reactors exist today," then why is the dominant source of heat energy flow to the Earth's surface STILL considered to be from radioactive (fission) decay within the Mantle?

[RightWhale]

Earth's core itself may be a reactor?

It's fun and educational to consider such possibilities. Yesterday the possibility was announced that the earth's core may have an inner core about 350 miles in diameter. This is apparently suggested by a discontinuity of seismic waves at the boundary.