Fusion+

Fusion Plus (also Fusion+ or F+) is the popular name for a range of fusion-power generating technologies based on the process first developed by Zhunastu Industrial Laboratories in -10.

Description (Specifications)

Fusion+ is the popular name of a portable, highly-efficiency power generation technology whose prototypes were originally inspired by and developed from earlier Piezo-nuclear fusion cell technologies employing fusion cathodes that also served as the power transformer. The single cell early Fusion+ design that was initially produced by Zhunastu Industries was 10 liters. The Fusion+ process uses water with a high dose of deuterium (a heavy isotope of hydrogen, ₁H²) as a fuel supply. The deuterium is extracted via electrolysis and fused producing tritium (a triple-heavy form of hydrogen (₁H³) appearing only as a byproduct of nuclear reactions) and eventually helium-4 (₂He⁴), otherwise known as an Alpha particle (α⁺² - a byproduct of deuterium-tritium (D-T) fusion). It is an efficient mechanism of energy output (producing very little waste heat) through catalyzed fusion of hydrogen. Cold fusion power is distinguished from Thermonuclear fusion power and/or other types of Fusion power (e.g. Damper-mediated or Inertial-confinement fusion) by its small size: a "Fusion Power Plant" (an "F-Plant") is suitable for large multi-kiloton installations; "Fusion Plus" (or "F+") is a small, relatively portable installation suitable for vehicles and homes. The self-contained modular design of the Fusion Plus system allows for linear scaling of the power plant, making the small plants very efficient but easily outpaced by larger fusion plants. The units are small, sealed, self-contained cold fusion power sources ranging in size from small micro-fusion power cells to the basis underlying Overclockable Rapid-cycle starship Power Plants. Virtually maintenance free, they are sited throughout many ships and installations as independent power sources. Powered by water, they are inspected and cleaned annually, at which time their small water tank is refilled.

Compared with standard Fusion

"Fusion+" is not to be confused with "standard" (or "basic") "Fusion". Compared with standard Fusion, Fusion+ offers order of magnitude improvements on portability, safety, and quality. Larger Fusion+ plants are composed of a number of smaller, independent cells.

History & Background (Dossier)

Historically, it does not appear that either the Rule of Man or the prior Vilani Imperium had stumbled onto the secret of Fusion+. Cleon Zhunastu of Zhunastu Industries was the inventor of Fusion+ in the modern era during the final days of the Sylean Federation and used such power plants to reunite disparate factions of interstellar polities lost during the Long Night by trading on the technological superiority of the Fusion+ power plant. In doing so, Cleon was able to transform an overextended Sylean Federation into a nascent Empire and have himself proclaimed Cleon the First, the founder of a new Imperium, which would eventually become Charted Space's largest hyper-polity. As history has repeatedly shown time and again - when the secret is known - Fusion+ power plants, once perfected, almost always transform earlier societies into interstellar ones.

Timeline

• (-28): Fusion+ plant invented, but not perfected.
• (-10): Fusion+ plant first perfected and traded.

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References

This list of sources was used by the Traveller Wiki Editorial Team and individual contributors to compose this article. Copyrighted material is used under license from Mongoose Publishing or by permission of the author. The page history lists all of the contributions.

• Loren Wiseman. "Cold Fusion." Challenge 72 (1994): in article: "Cold Fusion" by Frank Chadwick.
• Frank Chadwick, Dave Nilsen. Fire, Fusion, & Steel (Game Designers Workshop, 1994), 67-68.
• David Golden, Guy Garnett. Fire, Fusion & Steel (Imperium Games, 1997), 81,112.
• Lester Smith. Milieu 0 (Imperium Games, 1996), 83.
• Greg Porter. Central Supply Catalog (Imperium Games, 1996), 60,61.
• Marc Miller. T5 Core Rules (Far Future Enterprises, 2013), 500.
• Marc Miller, Robert Eaglestone, Don McKinney. Starships (Far Future Enterprises, 2019), T5.10 Book 2: p.131-133.
• Christopher Griffen. The Third Imperium (Mongoose Publishing, 2021), 69.
• Adrian Tymes, Sabrina Tymes, Gabriel G. A. B. Fonseca, Robert Eaglestone. Starship Operator's Manual (Mongoose Publishing, 2024), 17.