USS Enterprise's eight-reactor plant offered exceptional power but multiplied the operating burden. An account from a former Enterprise reactor operator describes the individual units developing distinct chemistry and behaviour. A participant with experience on a two-reactor ship notes that even nominally similar plants could run slightly out of phase. Coordinating eight such plants made the carrier an engineering-management challenge as well as a source of very high speed.
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Operating USS Enterprise's eight-reactor plant
Enterprise's exceptional power came with the burden of coordinating eight reactor plants whose operating chemistry could differ.