UZH Reactor

Short for uranium zirconium hydride reactor, the UZH is a design favored by small spacecraft unable to load a Nugen Reactor, and offers the main advantage of variable output and extreme stability.

The uranium zirconium hydride fuel has a large, prompt negative thermal coeficient of reacticity, meaning that as the temperature of the core increases, the reactivity rapidly decreases. This allows the reactor to pulse to high degrees of output, but shutdown automatically before damage can occure.

A few larger comercial ships are powered by UZH cores, though the power output is relatively low compared to other available energy sources. It is mostly used in smaller military spacecraft, as small civilian vessels are typically short-range and can operate on faster-consumed fuel sources.

In the Gudersnipe Foundation the UZH is primarily used to power the Corvette-class of patrol and reconnaissance spacecraft as well as the Gargoyle-class bomber. It was initially considered as a main power source for the Harpy before the design team decided on using the engines as generators.