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To: petuniasevan
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?

3 posted on 10/16/2002 6:40:10 AM PDT by Graewoulf
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To: Graewoulf
Heat from residual fission and self-perpetuating reactors are two different things. Yes, there are radioactive isotopes of various elements in the mantle. They do decay, and from that energy some heat is created. There will be no sustained reaction.

The missing ingredient here is critical mass. You have to put so much of a single radioactive isotope such as U235 into such and such a volume to set up a nuclear chain reaction. Careful measurement of both concentration of isotope and amount used are essential to success in controlling the reaction.

4 posted on 10/16/2002 7:10:35 AM PDT by petuniasevan
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