The Microfusion Reactors are small self-contained units that are incredibly uncomplicated and simple enough for a lay-person to manage successfully with little in the way of maintenance. They require hydrogen fuel cells as input and steadily output power, and while they are prone to occasional breakdowns they fail safely without radiation leaks or other hazards. Each generator reliably outputs 20,000 kW of power until the reactor shuts down; running out of fuel shuts the reactor down and may cause a minor to major breakdown, so it is advised to conduct routine maintenance inspections to ensure power remains operational.
When examined, each Reactor has a stress level (100% is 'standard safe parameters', higher is bad, lower is good), which can be indirectly adjusted by the operator should they desire to coax more power from the system. A power increase of 10% (2,000 kW) causes a stress increase of 1%, which slowly begins to accumulate. As stress increases, the random chance of a breakdown becomes non-zero, and if a breakdown occurs, the Reactor ceases to produce power and enters the break state (minor to major depending on how hard you've been pushing the reactor.)
There exists a fuel cell recharger within the Reactor area, which takes Hydrogen from a Chemical Silo and refills a fuel cell over time with it. This is necessary to maintain a balance of spare fuel cells should all of the Reactors be necessary simultaneously.
Depending on the location, your S-52 Microfusion Reactor may or may not be on and generating power when your shift starts. Some conservative Engineers only activate engines when they need the power in order to reduce risks and fuel loss, after all. Fortunately, enabling the Reactors is easy. A typical reactor setup uses 18 base units (which are the size of mainframe servers, roughly), and has a total of 32 fuel cells available to fuel them. Fuel cells take 120 minutes to deplete, and the fuel cell recharger can recharge a fuel cell in 10 minutes. It all sounds like a complicated math problem, but don't think about it too hard. Just install the fuel cell into the reactor, boot it up, and enjoy the glow of fusion power.
Casual observation of the Reactor bay will tell an experienced Engineer at a glance which reactors require fuel next; the blue bar visible on the front of the reactor slowly diminishes along with the fuel remaining. Closer inspection will provide information on the reactor's current settings, stress level, integrity, exact fuel remaining, and status, as will inspection of the Microfusion Reactor Controller nearby.
As long as the Reactors are operated at safe tolerances, they should never suffer a breakdown unless the fuel cells are run dry. Should a shutdown occur, or should you have turned the Reactors off to save fuel, you can easily turn them back on with a simple reboot of their control software. Should a minor break occur, you will need to use a wrench to tighten the stress bolts on the system that caused the shutdown; a moderate breakdown will require you to reconnect cable that has shorted out; and a major breakdown will require that you secure the welds on the internal shielding of the core. Remember, the Microfusion Reactor is designed to fail safe, and even a major breakdown is designed to terminate the reaction in such a way that causes no radiation or other hazard to the user.
If a reactor requires a fuel cell change, first, put the reactor into Maintenance Mode; this will safely shut down the reactor so that you can switch fuel cells without causing a failure state when you remove the cell. Then, remove the old fuel cell. After that, plug the new fuel cell in. Then, restart the Reactor. Congratulations, you've performed basic maintenance! Now that you have a depleted fuel cell, you can take it to the fuel cell recharger and start refilling it. As long as there is Hydrogen in the Chemical Silo, they will steadily and safely refill over time.
Should you need to run Reactors with less frequent maintenance visits, you may wish to lower the power level. Lowering the power level will significantly extend the performance life of the fuel cell (just as increasing it over safe tolerances will use fuel more quickly), giving you additional time between maintenance shifts. In addition, the RCon system allows you to connect to the Microfusion Reactor Controller, which tells you what each reactor's stress level, integrity, fuel remaining, and status is at a glance; if any are deactivated, and you didn't shut them off yourself, you know what to do to repair or reactivate them.
Note that if you click on a functional reactor with an empty hand and it requires fuel, instead of starting, the following message will be displayed:
ERROR: FUEL CELL DEPLETED. Please replace.
Of course, even the most user-friendly equipment can be forced to break down in dangerous ways should . Should the reactor become damaged by external sources, say, someone shooting the reactor or otherwise damaging the exterior casing, its integral safety features may not function as intended. The integrity meter is a numerical indicator of this damage, and the reactor will automatically shut down at zero integrity. However, radiation leaks will occur at a frequency based on current integrity while the Reactor remains active. These are typically no more dangerous than the radiation generated from standard operation of other major drive mechanisms, but as the maintenance area of the Microfusion Reactor is not normally expected to flood with radiation, it is noted here, and a standard L-2 radiation suit closet is generally kept near the reactors, just in case. Repairing reactor integrity demands a steady hand with a welder and may require specialized skills beyond a typical lay-person's capabilities.