Nuclear plant failure occurs when the accidental melting of the core of a nuclear reactor results in either the core to have a complete or partial collapse (adapted from USNRC, 1975).

In the electric power domain, especially in power transmission and distribution, a power outage usually refers to a partial or total loss of power supply to some end user (e.g., population, enterprises, critical systems). Triggering factors may include accidents, equipment breakdowns, failure of control mechanisms, targeted attacks (physical or cyber), organisational errors, and natural hazards (adapted from Pescaroli et al., 2017; UK Cabinet Office, 2017; EIS Council, 2019; and FEMA, 2018).

Emergency telecommunications failure is an umbrella term for telecommunications of an ‘extraordinary nature’ under abnormal and potentially adverse network conditions (ITU, 2007).

Radio and other telecommunication failures can be said to occur when there is internal or external interruption of communications by either party that results in difficult to transport the message as it was intended (adapted from Dainty et al., 2007).