If you clicked on this link then I'm going to assume you don't care about spoilers. If you do, turn around.

...

...

...

Okay.

The reactor outputs damaging particles. The charge rods affect particles. However, they don't (seem to) affect the damaging particles. While heavy water is the low-tech shielding solution, being able to actually affect the particles that get shot out would give a later-game scaling option. Some way to convert the damaging particle into a non-damaging particle, then they'd be able to generate more material.

It could give a boost, but it converts the gameplay into partly rote and partly creative, which seems less creative overall.

Flavorfully, the radiation from the reactor is gamma radiation which struggles to deliver the positive charge needed for transmutation.

Yeah, that makes sense. My line of thinking was that, in spite of realism, it would give more use for the charge rods. Maybe behind a tech that allows the conversion, so that you can't accidentally trivialize your early experience with the reactor. I think I'm imagining using the reactor as an ad-hoc particle accelerator or something.