Concepedia

Concept

criticality

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About

Criticality is the state of a nuclear fission chain reaction where the number of neutrons produced in each generation is sufficient to maintain the reaction rate. This condition is quantified by the neutron multiplication factor, which must equal one for a self-sustaining process. As a fundamental concept in nuclear physics and reactor engineering, criticality describes the balance between neutron production and loss, determining whether a system is subcritical (reaction dying out), critical (steady-state reaction), or supercritical (reaction increasing), and is thus crucial for reactor control, safety, and achieving controlled energy release.

Top Authors

Rankings shown are based on concept H-Index.

PB

Brookhaven National Laboratory

ME

Cornell University

HE

Boston University

MG

Bar-Ilan University

SK

The University of Tokyo

Top Institutions

Rankings shown are based on concept H-Index.

Brookhaven National Laboratory

Upton, United States

Los Alamos National Laboratory

Los Alamos, United States

Imperial College London

London, United Kingdom