Molten Reactor

+| Feature | Details |+| :--- | :--- |+| **Type** | Point of Interest / Vehicle Component |+| **Scan Type** | Bioscanner Only |+| **Associated Vehicle** | Trident |+| **Origin** | Axum Design |+ +![Molten Reactor](Molten Reactor.png)+ +The **Molten Reactor (Lava Lamp)** is a powerful Axum fission reactor used to power the Trident. Damaging and flooding the reactor means it must be repaired and its Molten Reactor Fuel Cell replaced before the submarine can be operated.+ +## Repair Recipe+ +Repairing the reactor requires scanning it with a Bioscanner first.+ +| Ingredient | Amount |+| :--- | :--- |+| Graphene Ingot | 5 |+| Caustic Lye | 3 |+| Methane Clathrate | 3 |+| Lead | 5 |+ +**Crafted at:** Habitat Builder+ +## Databank Entries+ +### Molten Reactor (Lava Lamp)+ +> Project "Lava Lamp." A compact and viciously powerful fast fission reactor of alien design. Unlike conventional transgov reactors, it uses an uncontrolled molten metal fuel/coolant mix. Though dangerous, it will burn a range of Protean fuel sources at high efficiency.+>+> **OPERATING INSTRUCTIONS**+>+> Construct reactor. Insert fuel cell. If no blueprint available, locate Axum fuel cell to scan.+>+> Refuel with radioactives as required. Note that low-quality fuel requires more frequent refueling.+>+> Avoid catastrophic breaches of reactor housing.+>+> **BACKGROUND**+>+> A copy of an Axum reactor design discovered by pioneer colonists. Though adapted to use Alterra fabrication processes and materials, it retains the brutal simplicity of the original direct-contact design: essentially a mass of molten metal heating a loop of sodium.+>+> —Tarry tantalum carbide reactor vessel contains molten cerium, cobalt, and plutonium fuel+>+> —Fuel is pumped into the core, where it reaches criticality and heats+>+> —The hot fuel is mixed with sodium coolant by an MHD pump, then vortex separated+>+> —Sodium coolant passes into an electrochemical fuel cell, transforming heat into electrical current+>+> The reactor is designed to self-regulate and thus operates at full throttle, with its control rods entirely retracted.+>+> Because Proteus is a highly radioactive world, the reactor design can be refueled using scavenged ores, even while the reactor is still operating. New fuel dissolves into the molten metal flow. The sodium coolant continuously washes away fission ash. Neutron rot will eventually compromise the reactor vessel, but this problem falls beyond current risk horizons.+>+> The tradeoff for this omnivorous simplicity is the reactor's extreme danger. Though it loses power as it heats, preventing a runaway fission reaction, the reactor is still a high-pressure loop of molten metal. Any breach of the reactor vessel could release this live corium, which reacts explosively with air, seawater and reactor operators.+ +### Sophie/Mantis - "We need a ship"+ +> **SOPHIE:** Kurultai log, day 261. Describe the alien artifact, for the record.+>+> **MANTIS:** A compact nuclear reactor. Unlike anything in our blueprints. The design is, ah, aggressively unsafe...but Proteus is so radioactive it can practically run on tar.+>+> **SOPHIE:** How unsafe? Can we use it inside?+>+> **MANTIS:** Eh. We should keep it outside until we've built a housing. As long as the sound and glow don't attract a Collector.+>+> **SOPHIE:** I want it on the log that I could have used this to power Habitat. And I didn't.+>+> **MANTIS:** It's your call, boss. Electricity isn't our problem.+>+> **SOPHIE:** No. It's not. You've seen Zip lately?+>+> **MANTIS:** The tremors, or the way she talks to fish?+>+> **SOPHIE:** We are all going to be like that soon.+>+> **MANTIS:** You want to go blow up the Tree. And you think this reactor will do it? No. It doesn't work like that.+>+> **SOPHIE:** Whatever we do about the Tree, we have to get there first. We need a ship, Mantis. It's got to be tough, it's got to be fast. And it's got to run mostly on tar.+>+> **MANTIS:** Okay...so we pull out the Cyclops blueprints, scale up, get Ruby and Ganzo to take a look—+>+> **SOPHIE:** Mm, not Ganzo. He talks to everyone.+>+> **MANTIS:** You want to keep this *secret*?+>+> **SOPHIE:** If everybody knows about it, NoA will know about it. And NoA has one directive which overrides its need to support and reprint us.+>+> **MANTIS:** To reconnect. To find the master NoA node...+>+> **SOPHIE:** I tell everyone it's pointless to speculate how we got here. But you and I both know it wasn't an accident.+ +### speakerError - "A bunch of us are throwing a mutiny"+ +> **ZIP:** I'm leaving a message here, in case we all forget.+>+> **PDA:** System: shaped charge demolition aid. Status: armed.+>+> **ZIP:** A bunch of us are throwing a mutiny. Before NoA spreads across this whole planet, and there are too many biobeds to destroy.+>+> **ZIP:** I helped build this place. I spent a year working on it. Then I went nuts and died in a cave. And I don't remember any of it. I don't remember my friends.+>+> **PDA:** Charge 2. Armed.+>+> **ZIP:** I guess if NoA hadn't reset me, I'd be dead. I oughta be grateful.+>+> **ZIP:** But I just keep thinking—now I only exist because I signed a contract. Because I can do a useful job. My life is now a debt to Alterra.+>+> **PDA:** Charge 3. Armed.+>+> **ZIP:** Anita may be a crazy meshuggeneh but she's right. If NoA can reset us, it can reset our debt. Forever. If my job is my life, I'm going on strike—+>+> *[biobed printing sound]*+>+> **PDA:** Reprint: complete.+>+> **ZIP:** What the hell...?+>+> **RUBY:** Zip! There were two! Two big marrowbreaches—I felt my damn back break!+>+> **ZIP:** Ruby...?+>+> **RUBY:** We're in trouble. NoA flooded Habitat, we're on the run. Do you have a sub? We gotta meet Sophie at the Tadpole Pens—Zip, is that a demo charge?+>+> **ZIP:** Yeah?+>+> **RUBY:** Why do you...you're with Chap and Mantis. Zip, they blew themselves up! There are kids out there!+>+> **ZIP:** And they're gonna be kids forever. So NoA has hostages.+>+> **RUBY:** You don't believe that—you're supposed to be sane! Cleaned up!+>+> **ZIP:** I am! And I can see how wrong this is—+>+> *[Collector leviathan roar]*+>+> **BASE AI:** Warning. Power offline.+>+> **RUBY:** It's after the reactor.+>+> **ZIP:** It's after us!+>+> **RUBY:** Got any more of those bombs?