A detailed text in which the writer employs critical thinking to analyze the subject and considers it from several angles.

plural of criticality accident

(nuclear physics) An accidental uncontrolled self-sustaining nuclear fission chain reaction.

Sensitive to latency or small variations in time; time-sensitive. / Reliant on a deterministic ordering in time; time-dependent. / urgent.

(nuclear physics) The point at which the prompt neutrons and delayed neutrons produced by a nuclear fission chain reaction, taken together, are just sufficient to sustain the chain reaction (the state of being delayed critical); in this state, changes in reaction power occur slowly, allowing the reaction to be controlled on human timescales, due to the relatively long time delay associated with the emission of the delayed neutrons necessary to maintain the chain reaction.

(nuclear physics) Of the point at which the prompt neutrons and delayed neutrons produced by a nuclear fission chain reaction, taken together, are just sufficient to sustain the chain reaction, where changes in reaction power occur slowly.

plural of delayed criticality

(nuclear physics) Of the point where the prompt neutrons produced by a nuclear fission chain reaction are just sufficient to sustain the chain reaction on their own, past which changes in reaction power occur on a timeframe of milliseconds, too rapidly for a human operator to control.

plural of prompt criticality

(nuclear physics) The point at which the prompt neutrons produced by a nuclear fission chain reaction are just sufficient to sustain the chain reaction on their own (the state of being prompt critical); past this point, changes in reaction power are controlled by changes in the prompt neutron flux, and occur on a timeframe of milliseconds, too rapidly to be controlled by mechanical means.