Fusion plants

Grashtel wrote:Also having more plants also means that its an easier decision to scram a plant that is showing signs of problems before it gets a chance to fail catestrophically

In a battle, it essentially takes forever to get a reactor shut down to a safe level. It's at something like 20 million K, it takes a significant amount of time to get it cooled to a reasonable level.

kzt wrote:

Grashtel wrote:Also having more plants also means that its an easier decision to scram a plant that is showing signs of problems before it gets a chance to fail catestrophically

In a battle, it essentially takes forever to get a reactor shut down to a safe level. It's at something like 20 million K, it takes a significant amount of time to get it cooled to a reasonable level.

I would think that shutting down a fusion reactor in an emergency situation (reactor running away catastrophically) should be as easy as cutting the hydrogen fuel, then venting the existing plasma directly into space (either dorsal or ventral of ship), and then allowing the (solid parts of the) reactor to cool down (using normal or emergency cooling systems). Once the hydrogen plasma is gone, the reactor won't explode with enough force to destroy the ship (it may still have explosive venting of coolant through damaged piping, but any additional damage as a result will be local in nature).

I think that was what Dominica Santos was trying to do with CL Fearless's Fusion One reactor in On Basilisk Station, but she ran out of time when the ship took additional damage (leaving the previously unstable magnetic containment field with only seconds before it failed completely) and had to eject the reactor barely in time to save the ship (at the cost of her life and that of Allen Manning and Angela Earnhardt who were also in the compartment).

I would think that shutting down a fusion reactor in an emergency situation (reactor running away catastrophically) should be as easy as cutting the hydrogen fuel, then venting the existing plasma directly into space (either dorsal or ventral of ship), and then allowing the (solid parts of the) reactor to cool down (using normal or emergency cooling systems). Once the hydrogen plasma is gone, the reactor won't explode with enough force to destroy the ship (it may still have explosive venting of coolant through damaged piping, but any additional damage as a result will be local in nature).

I think that was what Dominica Santos was trying to do with CL Fearless's Fusion One reactor in On Basilisk Station, but she ran out of time when the ship took additional damage (leaving the previously unstable magnetic containment field with only seconds before it failed completely) and had to eject the reactor barely in time to save the ship (at the cost of her life and that of Allen Manning and Angela Earnhardt who were also in the compartment).

Small ships have the ability to jettison the mag bottle up or down, due to the size of the hull. Once you get to large CA/ BC size, there are too many decks and armor for a mag bottle eject chute.

Theemile wrote:

I would think that shutting down a fusion reactor in an emergency situation (reactor running away catastrophically) should be as easy as cutting the hydrogen fuel, then venting the existing plasma directly into space (either dorsal or ventral of ship), and then allowing the (solid parts of the) reactor to cool down (using normal or emergency cooling systems). Once the hydrogen plasma is gone, the reactor won't explode with enough force to destroy the ship (it may still have explosive venting of coolant through damaged piping, but any additional damage as a result will be local in nature).

I think that was what Dominica Santos was trying to do with CL Fearless's Fusion One reactor in On Basilisk Station, but she ran out of time when the ship took additional damage (leaving the previously unstable magnetic containment field with only seconds before it failed completely) and had to eject the reactor barely in time to save the ship (at the cost of her life and that of Allen Manning and Angela Earnhardt who were also in the compartment).

Small ships have the ability to jettison the mag bottle up or down, due to the size of the hull. Once you get to large CA/ BC size, there are too many decks and armor for a mag bottle eject chute.

But you can have (a) built-in emergency plasma exhaust vent(s). And directing it to the dorsal or ventral parts of the ship should not introduce a weakness as it would covered by the wedge and therefore inaccessible to enemy fire. You wouldn't be ejecting the reactor as a whole, just the hot plasma after you cut the hydrogen fuel feeds.

Vince wrote:But you can have (a) built-in emergency plasma exhaust vent(s). And directing it to the dorsal or ventral parts of the ship should not introduce a weakness as it would covered by the wedge and therefore inaccessible to enemy fire. You wouldn't be ejecting the reactor as a whole, just the hot plasma after you cut the hydrogen fuel feeds.

"The target area is only two meters wide. It's a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system." -- Jan Dodonna, SW-IV "A New Hope"

lol.

but the death star didn't have "impentrable" gravity bands protecting top and bottom.

though I agree with you that it is a potentially fatal chink in the armour, and yes top and bottom are armoured just to much lighter degree then the sides let alone the hammerheads.

DJMacdonald wrote:

Vince wrote:But you can have (a) built-in emergency plasma exhaust vent(s). And directing it to the dorsal or ventral parts of the ship should not introduce a weakness as it would covered by the wedge and therefore inaccessible to enemy fire. You wouldn't be ejecting the reactor as a whole, just the hot plasma after you cut the hydrogen fuel feeds.

"The target area is only two meters wide. It's a small thermal exhaust port, right below the main port. The shaft leads directly to the reactor system." -- Jan Dodonna, SW-IV "A New Hope"

You forgot the part where he says, as near as I can recall: "The target is ray shielded, so you'll have to use proton torpedoes."

There are no fighters in the Honorverse. LACs are not fighters, they are more akin to motor torpedo boats (and have only a small advantage in acceleration over starships). And trying to get a contact nuke first close enough, and second to fly down a vent on an Honorverse starship is impossible (the missile simply doesn't have the acceleration capability to make the turn).

Don't energy torpedoes draw that hot plasma directly from the fusion reactors and spit it at enemy targets?

Vince wrote:I would think that shutting down a fusion reactor in an emergency situation (reactor running away catastrophically) should be as easy as cutting the hydrogen fuel, then venting the existing plasma directly into space (either dorsal or ventral of ship), and then allowing the (solid parts of the) reactor to cool down (using normal or emergency cooling systems). Once the hydrogen plasma is gone, the reactor won't explode with enough force to destroy the ship (it may still have explosive venting of coolant through damaged piping, but any additional damage as a result will be local in nature).

I think that was what Dominica Santos was trying to do with CL Fearless's Fusion One reactor in On Basilisk Station, but she ran out of time when the ship took additional damage (leaving the previously unstable magnetic containment field with only seconds before it failed completely) and had to eject the reactor barely in time to save the ship (at the cost of her life and that of Allen Manning and Angela Earnhardt who were also in the compartment).

You essentially have stellar core temperatures and pressures in the reactor and energy levels of billions of megatons. See the effects of the failed reactor off of Hell. As soon as you vent that it will expand as it is under millions of Bar. So essentially you get a gigaton scale continuous explosion on the surface of your ship.

Or so David has described it.

munroburton wrote:Don't energy torpedoes draw that hot plasma directly from the fusion reactors and spit it at enemy targets?

They do. They also are very short ranged IIRC (1 light second) and are ballistic (no ability to change direction after being fired). They are also completely ineffective against a target protected by a sidewall as well as an impeller wedge.