Neutron Activator
The Neutron Activator is an LuV tier multiblock that induces radioactivity in materials to make them enter excited states. This machine is primarily used for processing Naquadah, Enriched Naquadah, and Naquadria but can also deplete thorium based liquid fuel very quickly for harvesting praseodymium. The Neutron Activator does require some attention to detail since recipes do not take any EU/t but rather a specific amount Neutron Kinetic Energy (NKE) measured in electron volts (eV). Going above or below the acceptable range of NKE for a given recipe will produce nothing but radioactive waste and possibly even explode the whole machine.
Note that building a neutron activator requires at least a Mk-I Precise Auto-Assembler equipped with an LuV energy hatch.
Construction
The Neutron Activator is highly flexible in terms of its height. There is no maximum, other than the world height limit, but the absolute minimum is 6 blocks tall (or 4 speeding pipe casings). Taller structures have benefits that will be discussed in the next section. Crafting input buffer/bus is supported. Using a Multiblock Structure Hologram Projector will show the player the minimum height Neutron Activator, but holding multiple in a single stack can show/build different heights up to 69 blocks tall (or 67 speeding pipe casings).
Notice that there is no energy hatch in the following list, but rather a neutron accelerator which is very similar except that it constantly draws power even when the machine is off. The neutron accelerator is always paired with a neutron sensor to automatically turn it on/off and keep the NKE in a specific range.
Requires:
- 1 Neutron Activator (Controller)
- 24 Clean Stainless Steel Machine Casing
- 18 Processor Machine Casing
- 32+ Reinforced Glass or EV+ borosilicate glass (varies with height)
- 16+ Steel Frame Box (varies with height)
- 4+ Speeding Pipe Casings (varies with height)
- 1+ Neutron Accelerator
- 1+ Neutron Sensor
- 1 Maintenance Hatch (any bottom casing)
- 1+ Input Bus (any top casing)
- 1+ Input Hatch (any top casing)
- 1+ Output Bus (any bottom casing)
- 1+ Output Hatch (any bottom casing)
Wallsharing
Although the neutron accelerator and neutron sensor can be wallshared without causing any issues in forming, doing so will cause these blocks to NOT function correctly and often leads to the incorrect NKE. Wallsharing this machine is typically unnecessary anyway because it can just be made taller.
Neutron Kinetic Energy
Recipes in the Neutron Activator do not use any EU/t and will begin processing regardless of the current NKE. However, outputs will only be produced if the NKE is within the acceptable range for that recipe. Any lower or higher and the Neutron Activator will just spit out radioactive waste while consuming all of the input ingredients. The current NKE is readily available in the controller's GUI.
Neutron Accelerator and Neutron Sensor
NKE is added to the machine via the neutron accelerator which is very similar to a regular energy hatch except that it constantly draws power even when the machine is off. This also means that it will constantly add NKE to the machine unless disabled with a machine controller cover. Not only is disabling the neutron accelerator important for processing recipes, but exceeding 1200 MeV will cause the Neutron Activator to explode.
While running, every EU is transformed into 10-20 eV where the exact amount is randomized. While not running, the Neutron Activator loses 72 keV per second. This means the neutron accelerator will need to run more often than not for EV- accelerators and vice-versa for IV+ accelerators, assuming a minimum height Neutron Activator. Inputting graphite or beryllium dust will reduce the NKE by 10 MeV immediately.
Disabling the neutron accelerator is done via the neutron sensor which simply reads the current NKE of the machine and outputs a redstone signal if that value is greater than or equal to the specified eV threshold in its GUI. The eV threshold should be somewhere in the middle of the acceptable range for a recipe because it will oscillate slightly above and below that value. The neutron sensor should face directly into a machine controller cover (set to DISABLE WITH REDSTONE) on the side of the neutron accelerator, NOT the controller.
Increasing the Height
Adding more speeding pipe casings to the Neutron Activator has two effects. The first is that the recipe time is multiplied by 0.90 for every casing above the minimum height. Once the recipe time is reduced to one tick, it will begin processing more materials with each recipe.
The caveat, however, is that adding more speeding pipe casings reduces the efficiency of the neutron accelerator. The 10-20 eV gained per EU is multiplied by 0.95 for every casing above the minimum height. This really only slows down the initial start-up of the NKE and has no significant effect after the machine reaches the specified eV threshold, other than requiring the neutron accelerator to run more often.
The following graph shows the two relationships for a recipe that originally takes 15 seconds to run and averages 15 eV per EU (minimum height Neutron Activator). With just 64 speeding pipe casings, the recipe time is reduced to 0.027 seconds or 0.18% of its original value and the average eV per EU is reduced to 0.691 or 4.61% of its original value. This means it will take approximately 21.7x longer to climb to the appropriate NKE but the recipe is 555x faster.
If you are feeling particularly crazy, the Neutron Activator can be built sideways for infinite height to make recipes run infinitely fast.
