Flux Reactors

Leapfrogging Fusion

The story of the Flux Reactor begins in the late 1950s, in a Hughes Enterprises Electric research lab. While working on an experiment meant to provide information that could lead to the development of fusion reactors, scientists instead discover something peculiar - a replicable quantum waveform which, when appropriately contained and sustained, produced noticeably more energy in output than was required in input. After further discussion with their superiors, the go ahead was given to begin experimenting with scaling up the process - with the hope of having a full size prototype with a power output in excess of 1 MW in operation by 1965.

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An image taken by a diagnostics sensor mounted into the reaction chamber of the Full Scale Experimental Quantum Flux Reactor, Bethpage, New York, circa 1985.
Unfortunately, the full size reactor would soon prove what, at the time, were believed to be fatal flaws in the technology - far from becoming more efficient when scaled up, the process seemingly became more energy intensive to initiate and more complex to maintain. This in turn lead to abyssmal power densities - far from achieving the 1 MW target by 1965, it was believed to be highly optimistic to hope to hit 500 kW by 1965. And while years of effort would be made to increase the effective power output of the FSFR device, it ultimatley would prove little more than a distraction for the various environmentalist factions that had once called for government support of the Flux Reactor program.

A New Breakthrough

Developed during Alexander Hughes' time spent as a prisoner of Hezbollah, the latest generation of Flux Reactor technology leverages a mix of the latest innovations in computer science with a greater mathematical and theoretical understanding of the quantum mechanics involved. This, combined with manufacturing innovations, allows Flux Reactors to be made several orders of magnitude more power and resource efficient. Not enough to immediately supplant things like internal combustion engines, but more than enough to de-throne nuclear energy as the go-to replacement for fossil fuels - if the political will and corporate resources are in place to support it in the coming years or decades.