An option I think is worth pursuing is a shared cold plasma generator between the reactor and the impulse engines.
The reactor uses much hotter plasma than the engines, but they both start with cold plasma, which is just heating the hydrogen fuel to a point where it ionises so that it can be magnetically contained for further heating. Why duplicate this equipment?
We 're gearing up to start prototyping the vessel's main engines, so I thought it would be useful to review the current state of the technical theory handed over by the research team. This is the way they're recommending we approach the prototype design: http://crew.isdc.network/liais/propulsion/mie-impulse-engines-263
The magnetic impulse coils are all based on alien room-temperature superconducting technology so that's an obvious place for the real-world build to depart from theory. What are the group's thoughts on the rest of the recommended design?