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Has anyone heard what fuels these things? Uranium, plutonium, cesium, cobalt?

slade2501 wrote: ↑Sun Apr 14, 2024 6:48 pm Has anyone heard what fuels these things? Uranium, plutonium, cesium, cobalt?

In my house rules... a synthetic radioactive fuel called Handwavium. Golden Age super-science captures Handwavium's radiated energy and converts it to power for use in machines and in explosive devices.

The main fuel for nuclear power plants is uranium, specifically a kind called U-235. Plutonium can also be used in some reactors. Cesium and cobalt are not typically used as fuel, but are results of the fission process.

Source Book 4: CS Navy (pg46-7) discusses the CS Nuclear Arsenal. The short answer is that they don't really state what the nuclear-grade material is, only that it is "produced in the power plants of the CS war machines." Most likely the CS is using Uranium or Plutonium in the various nuclear power plants then. However, this may not be the case given some weapons are known to be fusion (which could still require fission weapon to start so back to needing fission fuel likely Uranium or Plutonium since their weapons are derived from US designs).

What OTHER producers use in their reactors could be different, though I would suspect human plants likely are similar though alien/DBee nuclear plants might be different in terms of fuel.

MercOps (pg113) has a fusion power plant, which would suggest some form of hydrogen fuel (most likely, heavier elements and/or mixtures are also possible but more demanding).

excellent answers, thank you!