History Main / GoingCritical

** The ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}} Warhead'' [[GameMod mod]], ''MechWarrior Living Legends'', takes the critical explosions of the previous games up to eleven - when a mech goes critical (20% chance when destroyed), it glows white while a sound builds up, then it explodes in a huge, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNFeE8mIlxQ&t=1m42s blindingly white mushroom cloud]], stirring up dust which obstructs the battlefield.

* Reactors in ''WebComic/SchlockMercenary'' work through neutronium (extremely dense matter, held together by its own gravity) annihilation (matter-antimatter reactions, which are usually kept controlled by their reactor AI and multiple fail-safes, including an auto-shutdown feature that stops the reactions and turns the reactor into an inert ball of neutronium. While hard to do and usually impractical (to the degree that killing the rest of the ship first is usually quicker and safer), cracking an 'annie-plant' is possible and happens several times during the comic, leading to a pile of evaporating, ''very'' explosive neutronium. This, however, is peanuts compared to what happens if the reactor AI decides to ''actively'' go in for using the plant as a conversion bomb.

->''"Last night Chernobyl nuclear power plant fulfilled the Five Year Plan for heat energy generation in four microseconds."''

The effect is possibly inspired by magazine and/or steam boiler explosions in ships, forts or industrial facilities. The former generates a [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdrISbwy_zI massive explosions]] after a structure has taken significant damage or suffers a CriticalHit. The latter results from the fact that in a steam power plant the pressure of the steam is what creates the explosive potential and damaging the container unleashes it.

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* The "Meltdown" mode in ''Pinball/JudgeDredd'' also requires stopping a runaway reactor.

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* ''VideoGame/{{Bioforge}}'': Stopping a moonbase nuclear reactor from meltdown is one of the things you've got to do.

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* In ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' episode "White Heat", when Firefly absorbed a large amount of radiation. Batman said a meltdown ''wouldn't'' be a nuclear explosion because he didn't absorb enough radiation, he would just let out enough heat and radiation to destroy most of Gotham. Then he tried to use it to set off an actual nuclear reactor.
* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Baby Doll rigs the power plant to explode by shutting down the coolant and regulators.

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* In an issue of Franchise/TheDCU comic book miniseries ''ComicBook/IdentityCrisis'', [[spoiler:{{Firestorm}}]] is skewered by a sword, and is told to fly off for the safety of others as "everybody knows what happens if you puncture a reactor".

* In the ''StarWars'' series, the Death Star's reactor caused a space station the size of a small moon to explode like a plastic model full of gunpowder. Although considering the energy output of the thing was enough to blow up an actual planet just as violently, maybe that's not unreasonable.

->''(laughs)'' "Oh, meltdown. It's one of those annoying buzzwords. We prefer to call it an unrequested fission surplus."
-->'''Charles Montgomery Burns''', ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Homer Defined"

* In ''{{Halo}}'', the titular ring, large enough to have its own ecosystem, is broken into pieces by throwing 4 grenades into a starship's engine containment field. "Wildcat destabilization".

* The titular house in ''ManiacMansion'' was powered by a nuclear reactor which could explode if it overheated, if the house's power was turned off and the reactor short-circuited, or if the player pressed the [[SchmuckBait big]] [[DontTouchItYouIdiot red]] [[BigRedButton button]] in the pool. Probably {{Justified|Trope}} by the fact that the reactor is extremely poorly constructed due to the BigBad having a serious budget problem, to the point where he has to use ''his swimming pool'' to cool the fuel rods.

* As part of a military operation in one of the ''NewJediOrder'' novels, Admiral Kre'fey programs the reactor on a decommissioned and unmanned Interdictor cruiser to go supercritical once its shields go below 20%. Justified in that it was intentional, and also possibly justified because most ships in the ''Franchise/StarWars'' galaxy use hypermatter reactors, which we have no idea how they work.

--->'''Hammond:''' In the future, Major, before you activate any device that includes the word "reactor," I would appreciate it if you would notify me.

--->'''Weir:''' You destroyed three-quarters of a solar system!
--->'''Mc Kay:''' Five-sixths, but it's not an exact science.
--->It becomes a Running Gag:
--->'''Lt. Col. Sheppard:''' It took Dr. Mc Kay years to figure out all things Ancient and he still doesn't completely understand.
--->'''Dr. Mc Kay:''' [defensively] I have a very firm grasp of Ancient technology.
--->'''Lt. Col. Sheppard:''' You've blown up entire planets, Rodney.
--->'''Dr. Mc Kay:''' That wasn't my fault!
--->'''Lt. Col. Sheppard:''' Well, it didn't do it by itself!

* In an issue of TheDCU comic book miniseries ''IdentityCrisis'', [[spoiler:{{Firestorm}}]] is skewered by a sword, and is told to fly off for the safety of others as "everybody knows what happens if you puncture a reactor".

*** In "The Doomsday Machine" (episode of ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries''), Scotty jury-rigs the badly damaged U.S.S. Defiant so that its impulse drive can function. He says repeatedly that keeping it from exploding is taking all of his effort.

* BMovie ''TheSwarm'' had a bunch of killer bees turn a nuclear power plant into a nuclear bomb in less than a minute, somehow.

In real nuclear physics, "critical" means the reaction sustains itself. A reactor is critical if it's on. Relatedly, "supercritical" simply means the reaction is increasing in power. An explosive surge of power requires the reactor to go '''''prompt''''' ''critical'' [[hottip:*: "Prompt critical" means the reaction is critical solely from the "prompt" neutrons created by fission events. Since a neutron in flight cannot be controlled by processes working at human time scales so reactors are designed to be critical with the "delayed" neutrons released by subsequent isotope decay. This type of caiticality responds to control rods and the like.]], something that may have happened only once by accident (in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl-1 SL-1 reactor accident]] and maybe at Chernobyl, but the consensus is that it was more likely to have been a steam-explosion like an overloaded household water-heater but [[UpToEleven moreso]]). Even in that case, the reactor will explode well before the power output reaches atom bomb levels.

Radiation ''will'' be an issue inside the facility, but widespread fallout of the kind associated with nuclear war won't be a problem unless the containment systems have been ruptured... which, given that there was probably a steam explosion during the meltdown, they very well could have been — and, indeed, in both catastrophic meltdowns that happened in reality the containment ''was'' breached, resulting in massive contamination. [[hottip:*:In Chernobyl the containment was only partial, built into the reactor structure and destroyed together with it by a steam explosion. The Chernobyl-type reactors had very tall refueling machines, which ruled out full containment. In Fukushima, hot fuel cladding reacted with water and generated hydrogen; the technicians, fearing that the reactor vessels could be ruptured, ''consciously vented'' the built up gases into the containment. Eventually this hydrogen ignited, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero which then breached the containment and allowed the radioactive water (from the desperate attempts to cool the overheating reactors) to freely leak into the ocean.]] Long story short, a meltdown is extremely bad news, but orders of magnitude less bad than even small (ie tactical) nuclear weapons.

Meltdowns are just that - the fissile core ''melts'' into slag, hot enough to flash coolant into steam (wherein you get the associated bang) and possibly melt through the reactor vessel. Since reactors currently in use are designed with safe failure modes in mind (including the famous manually triggered SCRAM) the worst you really get from a on a land-based reactor meltdown is that the reactor pile becomes a pile of reactor. It makes a very expensive mess, but isn't going to destroy much of anything outside the reactor containment facility itself, much less wipe a city off the map like nuclear bombs are capable of doing. On a sea vessel, however, the contamination would be [[UpToEleven catastrophic]]: the reactor mass would come into direct contact with the seawater, and shatter or even be entirely vaporized to small particles (fallout) in the massive subsequent vapour flash explosion.

Radiation ''will'' be an issue inside the facility, but widespread fallout of the kind associated with nuclear war won't be a problem unless the containment systems have been ruptured... which, give that there was probably a steam explosion during the meltdown, they very well could have been — and, indeed, in both catastrophic meltdowns that happened in reality the containment ''was'' breached, resulting in massive contamination. [[hottip:*:In Chernobyl the containment was only partial, built into the reactor structure and destroyed together with it by a steam explosion. The Chernobyl-type reactors had very tall refueling machines, which ruled out full containment. In Fukushima, hot fuel cladding reacted with water and generated hydrogen; the technicians, fearing that the reactor vessels could be ruptured, ''consciously vented'' the built up gases into the containment. Eventually this hydrogen ignited, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero which then breached the containment and allowed the radioactive water (from the desperate attempts to cool the overheating reactors) to freely leak into the ocean.]] Long story short, a meltdown is extremely bad news, but orders of magnitude less bad than even small (ie tactical) nuclear weapons.

* Element Zero core meltdowns are shown to be quite spectacular in ''MassEffect 2: The Arrival''. When the cooling system of an "after-market eezo core" was deactivated it could detonate with enough energy to destroy a small planet; and a Mass Relay's core being destroyed has an effect comparable to a supernova.

In real nuclear physics, "critical" means the reaction sustains itself. A reactor is critical if it's on. Relatedly, "supercritical" simply means the reaction is increasing in power. An explosive surge of power requires the reactor to go '''''prompt''''' ''critical'' [[hottip:*: "Prompt critical" means the reaction is critical solely from the neutrons created by fission events. A neutron in flight cannot be controlled by processes working at human time scales so reactors are designed to be critical with the "delayed" neutrons released by subsequent isotope decay. This type of caiticality responds to control rods and the like.]], something that may have happened only once by accident (in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl-1 SL-1 reactor accident]] and maybe at Chernobyl, but the consensus is that it was more likely to have been a steam-explosion like an overloaded household water-heater but [[UpToEleven moreso]]). Even in that case, the reactor will explode well before the power output reaches atom bomb levels.

In real nuclear physics, "critical" means the reaction sustains itself. A reactor is critical if it's on. Relatedly, "supercritical" simply means the reaction is increasing in power. An explosive surge of power requires the reactor to go '''''prompt''''' ''critical'', something that may have happened only once by accident (in the [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl-1 SL-1 reactor accident]] and maybe at Chernobyl, but the consensus is that it was more likely to have been a steam-explosion like an overloaded household water-heater but [[UpToEleven moreso]]). Even in that case, the reactor will explode well before the power output reaches atom bomb levels.

To be specific, making a nuclear explosion not only requires compressing a mass of fissile material - something that emphatically does ''not'' happen in a nuclear reactor - but ''keeping it compressed'' for a long enough time, giving the runaway "prompt critical"[[hottip:*: "Prompt critical" means the reaction is critical solely from the neutrons created by fission events. A neutron in flight cannot be controlled by processes working at human time scales so reactors are designed to be critical with the "delayed" neutrons released by subsequent isotope decay. This type of caiticality responds to control rods and the like.]] reaction the time it needs to build up a bang. This is a very exact science: explosive lenses, drivers, and the fissile core have to be fitted perfectly, using machines so precise that they are overkill for polishing glass lenses. If anything is off by the slightest bit, you wind up squirting fissile material out of the spots of weak pressure in the detonation shockwave, which makes a radioactive mess but doesn't make a bang.

To be specific, making a nuclear explosion not only requires compressing a mass of fissile material - something that emphatically does ''not'' happen in a nuclear reactor - but ''keeping it compressed'' for a long enough time, giving the runaway "prompt critical" reaction the time it needs to build up a bang. This is a very exact science: explosive lenses, drivers, and the fissile core have to be fitted perfectly, using machines so precise that they are overkill for polishing glass lenses. If anything is off by the slightest bit, you wind up squirting fissile material out of the spots of weak pressure in the detonation shockwave, which makes a radioactive mess but doesn't make a bang.

** The ''[[{{Crysis}} Crysis Warhead]]'' [[GameMod mod]], ''MechWarrior Living Legends'', takes the critical explosions of the previous games up to eleven - when a mech goes critical (20% chance when destroyed), it glows white while a sound builds up, then it explodes in a huge, [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lNFeE8mIlxQ&t=1m42s blindingly white mushroom cloud]], stirring up dust which obstructs the battlefield.

* The arc reactor in ''Film/IronMan'' isn't nuclear (in fact, it's safe enough that Tony Stark can walk around with a miniature one implanted in his chest), but under the right circumstances, can be triggered to produce a very satisfying boom.

* In ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'', Baby Doll rigs the power plant to explode--and Batgirl fixes it by simply pulling switches and pressing buttons at apparently random.

** In addition to the anti-matter used in warp reactors, impulse (STL) drives are fusion-powered. Apparently, their containment systems are a *lot* better than what the FTL drives use, as impulse reactors never seem to explode (unless deliberately rigged)...