glitterboy2098 wrote:The most excellent point, I believe, is made by Mark Hall, who accurately observes that I'm thinking about fission style reactors. (I am.) Now that I think about it, maybe I only imagined that the text over the decades suggested fission style reactors. When I tried to take a book down from my shelves to look it up, I couldn't remember where, or even if, Palladium Books ever specified any details about the nuclear reactor! Mark Hall could be correct in recognizing that I'm proceeding on potentially false assumptions.
actually, your probably correct. the majority of evidence in RIFTS points to Fission power plants. RUE has a few statements about fusion, but none of them say outright "all atomic plants are fusion".
in fact, if there is such a statement, it invalidates almost 16 years worth of accumulated statements in RIFTS.
for example, the coalition uses nuclear material
produced in the atomic powerplants of it's armed forces to make nuclear weapons. a fusion plant cannot produce fissionable materials. but a fission plant will generate a small amount of plutonium and weapons grade uranium as a natural byproduct of operation. it'll produce more if designed as a breeder reactor.
another example. nuclear powerpacks for machinegun mount railguns emit large amounts of dangerous radiation when breached. a fusion powerplant cannot do so, as any damage ot the reactor will cause the fusion raction to cease, thus stop producing radiation. whereas a fission reactor continues to produce radiation through it's chain reaction. if the fission reactor is badly enoughed damaged, it will even meltdown, releasing even more radiation.
and then you have the fact of Arrak Chrome, from mercenaries. who has an "advanced fusion powerplant decades ahead of anything in rifts earth". note that if fusion is the standard powerplant of rifts, it would merel have said "advanced atomic powerplant" instead of saying fusion specifically.
and then you have Mutants in orbit/rifts:space. the Fusion drive is "experimental and untrusted" and somewhat rare.
add in the RUe statements about fusion powered powered armor and fusion turbines (a tech taken from robotech, IIRC), and the existance of a fusion powerpack in merc ops, we can assume that while fusion is present, fission is the common atomic powerplant in use.
and i'd like ot state for the record, that in terms of powerplant lifespan, the length listed is "operational" lifespan. how long it can run continiously. a glitterboy in storage will have it's reactor on standby and tampered, and thus not generating much of any power. at which point the "storage lifespan" of the reactor is going to be however long the fissile materials will last. which tends to be hundreds, thousands, or even millions of years. generally the storage life of a reactor is going ot be determained by how long the casings and control systems can last, not the fuel.