| Taurien Light Engine |
| Field Manual: Homebrew |
| Introduction |
| The Taurian Light Fusion Engine (TLE) is the Periphery's answer to the Lyran Light Engine. However, it does not use cutting edge technology, but rather resurrects some of the most ancient fusion technology and little used alternative ideas. The primary advantage is that it generates far fewer neutrons in its reactions (via alternate fusion fuels and a new configuration) and thus requires much less shielding than conventional fusion engines. |
| By: Mike Miller |
| Lore |
| Taurus Territorial Industries, 3058. "Oh, my God. Bob, look. They're teaching kids these days on books printed in the 2200s." "Where's the scroll button...wow, fifth edition, third printing, 2247. This text is a bit older than the Concordat. George, where is that new kid that brought in this e-book?" "Getting us lunch. You know new hires aren't good for anything other than gopher work until they go through several years of company training. Public education is so much crap for anything more complicated than the 3R's. Here he is." "Hi, okay, I got the roast turkey sandwich, no mayo, double tomatoes, bag of chips, and Coke for Mr. Wells. Mr. Jones, I got your-" "Yeah, yeah, looks right. Just set the tray down, kid." "Change?" "It's in my pocket, sir, and my hands-" "Right. Hey, kid, did you actually learn anything out of this book?" "Uh...oh, that one. Yessir, a lot, though it wasn't much use until after I started the company classes. I bought it when I was college." "Mrphshow?" "Sir?" "I think Bob asked, 'How so?', kid. Bob, don't talk with your mouth full." "Fucmkph," pause, chew, swallow, "You." "Well, sir, it...the book gives perspective. It has a lot of ideas about fusion power we don't use anymore." "Oh, yeah? There's probably good reasons we don't use ideas from the 2200s anymore." "I don't know. There seem to be some good ones that got overlooked by, like, market forces or something. My design project is on sort of a combination of them." "Y'know, that design project is sort of a make or break grade for new hires, kid. If you get too weird and fail, you're out of Taurus Territorial." "I know, but this stuff isn't just obscure, it's old, and thus simple. The CAD programs are handling it no problem." "You got your design project handy? Mind if this old, conservative coot takes a gander?" "No, not at all, sir. Here." [several minutes later] "Alright, kid. Why's this engine a long tube?" "It's a dual mirror magnet reactor, sir. It's much easier to get a stable confinement field than a spheromak or tokamak." "You've got the helium extractors backwards." "No, sir. Those are injectors. It uses helium-3 and deuterium as fuel, not plain hydrogen. Protium, I mean." "That's a less efficient fuel combo." "It just means it only runs 3 or 4 centuries on one kilogram of fuel, sir, rather than 4 or 5." "Uh-huh. And where's the shielding?" "Right there, sir. It needs a lot less." "And why's that?" "Well, look. Most of the fusion takes place in the 'pinch' magnet here in the center, so that's where most of the radiation is generated. The shielding has to cover less area. Plus the reaction is pretty aneutronic, so you mostly just worry about x-rays, which are easy to stop. The neutronic side reactions like deuterium-deuterium are way down, too, so you get less neutron radiation than today's plain hydrogen reactors. The narrow cross-section and high length lets you extract unwanted isotopes around the pinch section much more efficiently than today's engines, which hardly bother. So the side reactions are even rarer." "Huh." "I figure this design cuts down neutron radiation by an order of magnitude, sir. It should be a lot lighter than a normal engine without all that shielding." "An order of magnitude is probably optimistic, you know." "Probably." "And helium-3 doesn't grow on vines." "No, sir, but even at 5000 C-bills a kilo, it's not a major cost driver for the engine." "Huh." George finally spoke up. "Well, tell you what. I'll lean on McCready to go easy on you for the weirdness factor, because I'd like to run a few simulations on this, too. I think I can shake some discretionary funds out of management to give this a better look." |
| Navigation |
| Rules |
| Taurien Light Engine Weight: 0.75 (75%) the weight of a Standard Fusion Engine of the same Engine Rating when placed in 'Mechs. Criticals: The Taurien Light Engine occupies no critical slots in the mech's side torsos, instead it fills the bottom 2 Center Torso criticals. Critical Damage: The thin, tubular shape and thin shielding makes it easily damaged. It generates 7 heat on the first critical hit and shuts down on the second. Cost: 2.0 (200%) that of a Standard Fusion Engine of the same Rating. Notes: It is twice as expensive as a standard engine due to its low production and unexpected difficulty in acquiring helium-3 (the solar wind magnetic scoops were a large capital investment). It is not an engine that can be retrofitted to existing mechs due to its shape - the center torso must be completely rearranged. Most current mechs can be redesigned to use it, meaning it can be installed on variants in the factory. If the Concordat adopts the engine en masse, its price is likely to fall to nearly standard fusion engine levels. Alternately, if more advanced materials are used to make it tougher (give it 3 crits before shut down), it will still cost double that of a normal fusion engine. |