Bingowings said:

I don't like this mockup (the moment I uploaded it to Skydrive I realised I'd gone way OTT with it) but I post it in reply to Monroville's comments in the hope it might spark something more subtle. I was trying for an energy propeller sort of idea (as if electricity could be spun in a centrifuge) the inside of the chamber always reminded me of the inside of a top loading washing machine or a candy floss machine (well it did until The Search For Spock came out then I kept expecting The Excelsior to come around the corner). If the walls couldn't spin why not the energy field?:

Actually, I think imagining the outer wall spinning would be quite effective. I would NOT do the energy thing (and the lightning bolt), as that may just come off as too over the top (Bingo: I know its a roughie.. just sayin)

An alternate idea could be to keep the walls grey as they are (but spinning around, say in a counter-clockwise motion - there are 6 wall panels behind the reactor; movement could be as fast as the right panel moving to the left panel's position in .5 to .7 seconds), but lighting the central core up per the last AKIRA image link (with the bluish and purplish lighting), especially the darker grey area connecting the ceiling spherical section with the lower light grey area.

I would consider making the small area to the right of the central reactor core an area for reactor engineers (as the Empire likes to put personnel right by dangerous things, like planet killing laser beams) and add some windows, maybe some taken from the CLOSE ENCOUNTERS: SPECIAL EDITION scene (where you can see "beings" behind the windows looking out).

Some other images to enhance the reactor:

For the upper section:

One could also darken the chamber, so the only light comes from what emanates from the reactor, casting a "light through water" effect on the walls.

For some reason, I'm having visions of the MCP from TRON:

Think Ady would go for it?