2 ms·

There's been around 60 criticality incidents documented/known, none of them resulted in buildings blowing up: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criticality_accident

• lxgr 3y ago
  I appended my comment for a bit more context. Since the time scale of the exponential term in the equation for prompt criticality is on the order of nanoseconds, any sustained (i.e. non-oscillating/somehow naturally moderated) event, in a configuration as simple as a few geometric neutron reflectors, would either be over after less than a few of these, or leave a crater, and what was pictured in the clip seems sustained to me.
  • jasonwatkinspdx 3y ago
    You are way overthinking this. Witnesses reported blue light, so hollywood did blue light. It's a movie not a documentary. Regardless we know from the witnesses in the room the criticality at least lasted long enough for Louis to need to use his hand to separate the cores, which is clearly not nanosecond scale, so I'm not sure what exactly you're expecting or criticizing here. The only difference I can find googling is that he apparently used one hand one screwdriver, not two.