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Concept
Critical mass
Summary
In nuclear engineering, a critical mass is the smallest amount of fissile material needed for a sustained nuclear chain reaction. The critical mass of a fissionable material depends upon its nuclear properties (specifically, its nuclear fission cross-section), density, shape, enrichment, purity, temperature, and surroundings. The concept is important in nuclear weapon design.
When a nuclear chain reaction in a mass of fissile material is self-sustaining, the mass is said to be in a critical state in which there is no increase or decrease in power, temperature, or neutron population.
A numerical measure of a critical mass is dependent on the effective neutron multiplication factor k, the average number of neutrons released per fission event that go on to cause another fission event rather than being absorbed or leaving the material. When k = 1, the mass is critical, and the chain reaction is self-sustaining.
A subcritical mass is a mass of fissile material that does not have the ability to sustain a fission chain reaction. A population of neutrons introduced to a subcritical assembly will exponentially decrease. In this case, k < 1. A steady rate of spontaneous fissions causes a proportionally steady level of neutron activity. The constant of proportionality increases as k increases.
A supercritical mass is one which, once fission has started, will proceed at an increasing rate. The material may settle into equilibrium (i.e. become critical again) at an elevated temperature/power level or destroy itself. In the case of supercriticality, k > 1.
Due to spontaneous fission a supercritical mass will undergo a chain reaction. For example, a spherical critical mass of pure uranium-235 (235U) with a mass of about would experience around 15 spontaneous fission events per second. The probability that one such event will cause a chain reaction depends on how much the mass exceeds the critical mass. If there is uranium-238 (238U) present, the rate of spontaneous fission will be much higher. Fission can also be initiated by neutrons produced by cosmic rays.
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