What hypothesis says that the earth has a nuclear core?

gmackematix

The Herndon Hypothesis http://geology.about.com/library/weekly/aa072102a.htm Marvin Herndon, an independent geophysicist, made a splash in the August 2002 issue of Discover magazine with his idea that a ball of uranium minerals sits deep in the Earth's core, a gigantic natural nuclear reactor. Briefly Herndon's story is this: the Earth's iron core formed with a goodly share of radioactive uranium, which combined with sulfur to make an ultra-dense compound. The uranium settled to the center of the core, where it eventually formed a mass big enough to sustain a supercritical nuclear reactor. Not just that, but it functions as a breeder reactor, creating more nuclear fuel than it burns. This provides the energy needed to generate the geomagnetic field, a problem that has challenged scientists since the 17th century when Edmond Halley proposed the first theory of geomagnetism. Jan 09 05, 11:02 PM