Interview with John Deal, Hyperion Power Generation

[leitmotif]

If it cannot go critical how are you going to get power out of it??
Going critical for a nuc is the same as bringing a diesel up to operation RPM.
1.0 critical is it meeting the load.
> 1 critical is it increasing output to meed demand load
aka SUPER CRITICAL
< 1 means you are not meeting load just cooling down. 
That is OK too cooler water absorbs more neutrons thus making more power.
They are almost self regulating

Just an ex submarine nuc.

Dan Bentler