01-27-2016, 08:32 PM
My sinuses have finally cleared up. I can breath! I CAN FIGHT! No but seriously this is such a relief even if my throat still hurts like a bitch.
I'm not entirely certain but I think battletech accounts for most of this, in the event a core breach the vacuum sealed core will suck air into the superheated plasma chamber, where thermal expansion will cause a spectacular but not strictly nuclear explosion.
"More often a destroyed engine will be punctured by weapons fire. Because the plasma is held in a vacuum chamber (to isolate the superheated plasma from the cold walls of the reactor; contact with the walls would super-chill the plasma below fusion temperatures), a punctured reactor can suck in air where the air is superheated. Normal thermal expansion of the air causes the air to burst out in a brilliant lightshow often mistaken for a "nuclear explosion". This thermal expansion damages anything within 90 meters of the destroyed 'Mech."
However the radioactive fallout from this is not of any real consequence to the surrounding mechs as almost all are sealed for operation in areas with little to no atmosphere, so shielding against solar radiation around the cockpit is basically a given.
As for the reactor body..well I'm gonna hazard a guess that a tungsten carbide casing that makes up 2/3rds of the entire reactor is about the best you can do for a long lasting seal.
It probably also warrants mention that Battletech fusion engines use lighter isotopes than real research reactors, so protium is the fuel of choice as opposed to deuterium and/or tritium, though I have no immediate idea of how this reflects in the radioactivity of the core or it's emissions.
So after some cursory research a Protium fusion core would give off no neutrons, though it's not clear if any electrons or protons are discharged, or how that would affect the integrity of the reactor body.
(01-27-2016, 02:37 PM)OdinYggd Wrote: Oh yeah, fusion isn't so flawlessly clean either. A core breach would go off like a dirty nuke, scattering radioactive isotopes over a wide area.
The common D-D fusion reaction that is being aggressively pursued by most researchers spews a steady stream of neutrons when in operation. Although these neutrons do not participate in the reaction like their fission counterparts do, they cause the reactor body to be transmuted into unstable isotopes that decay again over time.
Fortunately, fusion is nicer than fission because all you have to do to turn it off is release the pressure or lower the temperature, both of which can be done quite quickly at the pressures and temperatures involved.
I'm not entirely certain but I think battletech accounts for most of this, in the event a core breach the vacuum sealed core will suck air into the superheated plasma chamber, where thermal expansion will cause a spectacular but not strictly nuclear explosion.
"More often a destroyed engine will be punctured by weapons fire. Because the plasma is held in a vacuum chamber (to isolate the superheated plasma from the cold walls of the reactor; contact with the walls would super-chill the plasma below fusion temperatures), a punctured reactor can suck in air where the air is superheated. Normal thermal expansion of the air causes the air to burst out in a brilliant lightshow often mistaken for a "nuclear explosion". This thermal expansion damages anything within 90 meters of the destroyed 'Mech."
However the radioactive fallout from this is not of any real consequence to the surrounding mechs as almost all are sealed for operation in areas with little to no atmosphere, so shielding against solar radiation around the cockpit is basically a given.
As for the reactor body..well I'm gonna hazard a guess that a tungsten carbide casing that makes up 2/3rds of the entire reactor is about the best you can do for a long lasting seal.
It probably also warrants mention that Battletech fusion engines use lighter isotopes than real research reactors, so protium is the fuel of choice as opposed to deuterium and/or tritium, though I have no immediate idea of how this reflects in the radioactivity of the core or it's emissions.
So after some cursory research a Protium fusion core would give off no neutrons, though it's not clear if any electrons or protons are discharged, or how that would affect the integrity of the reactor body.
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I answer questions. snark provided free of charge.
Most hated member of the nexus, irritation and/or ragequit guaranteed or your money back.
"IF I DO NOT RETURN INFORM MY HUMAN COHABITANTS THAT I FEEL STRONGLY FOR THEM"