The limits of using Fallout to explain reactor loads

Do Fallout's vault reactors use a different architecture from its fusion cells or cores?

Some equipment is said to be shared, but differences are acknowledged and the comparison is treated as an imperfect analogy.

The question challenges whether Fallout's vault reactors and portable fusion cores share the same architecture. The response claims some shared equipment while acknowledging differences such as scrubbers. The comparison is explicitly accepted as imperfect. Its purpose is to give players a familiar way to approach steady and changing power demand, with the details of real reactors requiring further study.