Quinn Rocket

yeah, That's kind of where I got the idea, but something that eats about 20-80KW of power. If I were to go with real life I would switch from hydrogen to ammonia (since ammonia is space storable). Using the "standard nuclear ISP" http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/enginelist.php#ntrsolidcore we get about 520s ISP. Which can be restarted and gets a better ISP than hydrogen-lox mix. I have no clue about what kind of thrust that would have though, but I would guess a little higher than hydrogen due to it's higher molecular weight.

Actually NASA has been doing something similar for a long time now. it's called NTREES (nuclear thermal rocket element enviromental simulator) I was trying to find what kind of thrust and ISP they got out of it but I did find it's a 1.2 MW (recently upgraded) power. My personal thought is take out the induction heater and use a even simpler technology of using a tungsten coil like on a old incadesent lightbulb and either using the coils by themselves or using plates of magnesia to spread the heat better. Simpler, lighter and a ISP comparable to a standard NERVA.