Nuclear Reactors
Nuclear Reactors
Available as soon as you've reached the Moon (late HV-early EV, or just get some titanium from aluminum gravel), nuclear reactors are a strong power source for EV and IV. The process of creating a reactor is quite complex and risks huge nuclear explosions. You are strongly advised to try all designs in a reactor planner before using them, and to encase your reactors in reinforced materials (2 layers minimum) or warded glass (thaumcraft) to prevent explosions from destroying the area. Test your reactor in creative first! Nuclear Control 2 is in the pack allowing various automation and information to be done.
There are in general two types of reactors, power producing and breeder (for the items/rods). For the power ones, you want the greatest efficiency (fewer rods, more power). For item breeders, you just want to consume as many rods as you can as fast as possible. For rod breeders, you want as many neighboring fuel cells as possible while generating the least amount of heat. Stacking also comes into play for large numbers, since they are not conveniently designed for that normally.
For items, you can look at this handy chart. Note that some items were excluded (for example getting thorium back from thorium rods). Note that the EU and Heat #s are for single rods (EU is /t, heat is /s as they only outputs each second), and that the EU should be multiplied by 10 for the actual amount per tick. See the planner for more details (make sure to grab 2.4.2+). Any rod that has the same heat values is equivalent in a planner design, and anything that produces less heat can also be substituted, unless it's a MOX-type design. Keep in mind that while quad thorium and dual uranium have the same heat levels, this is not true when placed next to other rods.
Fuel Rod Data
Name | EU/t | Heat Produced/s | Durability | Produces | Produces (single only) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Thorium | 10/20/30/40/50 | 1/3/8/10/15 | 50000 | Lutetium | Th-232, Krypton |
Uranium | 50/100/150/200/250 | 4/12/24/40/60 | 20000 | Plutonium (IC2) | Pu-239, Krypton |
MOX | 50/100/150/200/250 | 4/12/24/40/60 | 10000 | Plutonium (IC2) | Pu-239, Pu-241, Krypton |
Naquadah | 50/100/150/200/250 | 4/12/24/40/60 | 100000 | Naquadria | N/A |
Naquadria | 50/100/150/200/250 | 4/12/24/40/60 | 100000 | - | N/A |
Tiberium | 50/100/150/200/250 | 2/6/12/20/30 | 50000 | Zirconium, Xenon | N/A |
The Core | 108800 | 19584 | 100000 | Zirconium, Naquadria | N/A |
Lithium | 0 | 0 | 10000 | Tritium | N/A |
For the power producing types, there are a couple types:
For the power producing types, there are a couple types:
EU reactors produce raw energy directly with a 50% penalty. Use cables to transform the power into the GT type.
Fluid reactors produce hot coolant. Use a Large heat exchanger to convert the Hot Coolant to HP Steam/Steam, and HP Steam Turbines/LP Steam Turbines to generate energy with very high efficiency. See the Fluid Reactors page for details.
Vacuum reactors produce EU, but rely on cooling the cells in a vacuum freezer to keep it from exploding. See the Vacuum Reactors page to find out how to use them, and also redstone automation info.
Wrench reactors are a meme, you can read about them here There are several fuel types:
There are several fuel types:
Thorium is the cheapest and easiest to obtain, obtainable in large quantities from coal ore or thorium ore found in the nether. It lasts a long time but doesn't make much power. You need to make these to get Lutetium for Americium later on.
Uranium is obtained at Mars' moons from a couple ores. It doesn't last as long as thorium, but makes more power.
MOX is obtained by mixing plutonium (from depleted uranium rods, centrifuging uranium dust, or ores on later planets) with uranium. It returns enough plutonium to sustain itself. It outputs more power the hotter the reactor is.
Naquadah and Naquadria are obtained from mid-game ores, and are generally best used in naquadah generators.
Tiberium is made with tiberium. Get this from Ross128ba, the T5 planet.
The Core is made with naquadah and tiberium. Only use it with coolant cells!
For breeder reactors, there are two types:
Rod Breeder Reactors produce very little EU but instead transform a Breeder Rod into a different resource. Each reactor tick, all breeding targets get charged by the number of active rods they are next to. The best fuel rods for these reactors are Thorium because they generate the least amount of heat. Using a hotter fuel rod will produce more EU, but won't speed up the breeding process at all.
Item Breeder Reactors focus on consuming fuel rods as fast as possible to generate resources obtained from centrifuging depleted cells.
There are several breeding target rods:
Lithium breeder rods are used to make tritium.
Glowstone breeder rods are used to make sunnarium.
Sample Power Reactors
Normal
800 EU, 4 Quad Thorium
1 chamber, highly stackable, uranium version won't work
erp=AbpO50cpi8EyCnGQsm5+3kqXSrPM16eyLkRDj6/7ubl08hlt3jA5aGz8kkqxbPtJHAM= Component list: 4 Component Heat Exchanger 12 Overclocked Heat Vent 4 Quad Fuel Rod (Thorium) 4 Reactor Plating |
840-1400 EU, 7 Quad Thorium/Dual Uranium
0 chamber, highly stackable
erp=Buk7oujKDHGq0JU3mBvTEq6gupj15uaEx9Dysj5qI8uvH5CKB1CUqDnxVmKy6tLkAw== Component list: 2 Component Heat Exchanger 9 Overclocked Heat Vent 7 Quad Fuel Rod (Thorium) |
1200 EU, 2 Quad Uranium
0 chamber highly stackable
erp=Buk7nRymLwTIJ67fjgWtnWDrSIboxcdED2baEyB8oFjvyLkkDfTlC+eyEcT0dGssAw== Component list: 4 Component Heat Vent 8 Overclocked Heat Vent 2 Quad Fuel Rod (Uranium) 4 Reactor Plating |
1920 EU, 10 Quad Thorium
Uranium version won't work. This is just under 1A EV, and probably the most popular
erp=bpO50cpomK/mH0gVHOs23IkdoyDC6chL4SDpXqwoWDNXFT8Juuz6JbLfyp1ktNaIGQ+VHAM= Component list: 8 Component Heat Exchanger 4 Component Heat Vent 26 Overclocked Heat Vent 10 Quad Fuel Rod (Thorium) 6 Reactor Plating |
3200 EU, 4 Quad Uranium
erp=bpO50cpsAHTyl9OEtgK9dcozi40hq9Vdk4mh56J2fUgGYTIfHKS4hThQPQ5sd3xJHGPYbAM=
Component list: 8 Component Heat Exchanger 12 Component Heat Vent 26 Overclocked Heat Vent 4 Quad Fuel Rod (Uranium) 4 Reactor Plating |
4200 EU, 7 Quad Uranium
erp=bpO50cpoI2eKrThHpJyipMUmaCGJ8k5A+HO9kIIVGf54qMT6qI/xgb7M3Q7JX65KPqAGvAM=
Component list: 1 Component Heat Exchanger 11 Component Heat Vent 28 Overclocked Heat Vent 7 Quad Fuel Rod (Uranium) 7 Reactor Plating |
Fluid
(more fluid nukes pls)
128 HU, 8 Single Thorium
Optimal Steam Flow: 50,000 L/s + 1,200 L/s overflow - Manyullyn Turbine x1
Pre-Mars erp=bpO6LoygxxqtCBjheZTZiJIuJ5CVFzaDlYWVhlyIbTTiyxI3SBgyWM+P2oh8zzgD Component list: 3 Component Heat Vent 8 Fuel Rod (Thorium) 3 Overclocked Heat Vent |
186 HU, 4 Dual Thorium 1 Single Thorium
Optimal Steam Flow: 75,000 L/s - 600 L/s underflow (99.2% efficiency) - Manyullyn Large Turbine
Pre-Mars erp=AN0ndF0ZQY41WhAxwvMpzqpUF01mmB/rSwZyUhKERSWt3BzPNMI7Vl5Bq3JBvNSIAw== Component list: 6 Component Heat Vent 4 Dual Fuel Rod (Thorium) 1 Fuel Rod (Thorium) 4 Overclocked Heat Vent |
480 HU, 4 Quad Thorium
Optimal Steam Flow: 96,000 L/s x2 - Oriharukon Large Turbine x2
A choice for if you've gone to Mars but don't have the Tungstensteel for the Large HP Steam Turbine yet. erp=A3Sd0XRlBjvdb3dti2421RK1SijN13EilFaSNZpOeUX2VrhiI7YKffOrs8Y9ZaiZmAM= Component list: 13 Component Heat Vent 8 Overclocked Heat Vent 4 Quad Fuel Rod (Thorium) |
800 HU, 8 Quad Thorium
Optimal Steam Flow: 75,000 L/s - 5000 L/s overflow (94.3% efficiency) x2 - Manyullyn Large HP Turbine x2
You need to insert a circuit configured to 2 into the LHE, as the reactor runs below the 800 HU treshold on startup. erp=bpO6Loyp11NHXyVmyChv+HqviEbvEblEerFJkx9Y1+Q6BFe5Go3SFVIqhkWnxlIxCPwHAAM= Component list: 6 Component Heat Exchanger 8 Component Heat Vent 15 Overclocked Heat Vent 17 Reactor Plating 8 Quad Fuel Rod (Thorium) |
1160 HU, 8 Quad Thorium
This one doesn't require Iridium Neutron Reflectors
erp=XOtK6BxM6bjIiugVaAfV59XokCw2pqmbhbKwbMrTXDWyh9WAWnUda4lxUukAA2cwAQ== 1 Advanced Heat Exchanger 2 Advanced Heat Vent 3 Component Heat Exchanger 19 Component Heat Vent 2 Heat Vent 16 Overclocked Heat Vent 8 Quad Fuel Rod (Thorium) 3 Reactor Plating |
1352 HU, 2 Quad Uranium
Needs neutron reflectors
erp=bpO6Loyois6/qhwqLwAbIalKGhjckNE/hVqUd1N/fum0Gioy+fIWfba9PELWTwrbI90DxAM= Component list: 5 Advanced Heat Exchanger 4 Advanced Heat Vent 2 Component Heat Exchanger 18 Component Heat Vent 4 Iridium Neutron Reflector 19 Overclocked Heat Vent 2 Quad Fuel Rod (Uranium) |
1408 HU, 3 Quad Uranium, 1 Dual Uranium
No neutron reflectors, but more difficult to automate. The plating can be either kind, or left open if your automation is on point.
erp=bpO6LoyoHOWp0oVsIXLNijpekw41O/dsnJUWwnu9S9QBVNDr+AYyvEh/AVjNJ0kShldxPAM= Component list: 3 Advanced Heat Exchanger 4 Advanced Heat Vent 18 Component Heat Vent 1 Dual Fuel Rod (Uranium) 4 Heat Exchanger 1 Heat-Capacity Reactor Plating 20 Overclocked Heat Vent 3 Quad Fuel Rod (Uranium) |
MOX Heat-Neutral
800-1820 EU, 3 Dual MOX
0 chamber, highly stackable
erp=Buk7nRymLwTIJ61tLFQG+xmpBCJZageQBIS1W1hn8mDntumPmMJudWFBdD721t1gAw== Component list: 10 Advanced Heat Vent 1 Component Heat Exchanger 4 Component Heat Vent 3 Dual Fuel Rod (MOX) |
1200-2730 EU, 4 Dual MOX
1 chamber, highly stackable
erp=AbpO52FwzNKwjrFZGpswjb3e9mapf8IKH9hklFqYnVL/AgwHhXpy1kbpN2Zf2ejLwAM= Component list: 12 Advanced Heat Vent 8 Component Heat Vent 4 Dual Fuel Rod (MOX) |
3000-6825 EU, 5 Quad MOX
erp=bpO50cpoIJowPj7RBKnbNFAmPK179FN/1PjhLcjiHlEEDgF0icg+CsEHqwR2FoF2MPrWaAM=
Component list: 26 Advanced Heat Vent 6 Component Heat Exchanger 16 Component Heat Vent 5 Quad Fuel Rod (MOX) 1 Reactor Plating |
Vacuum
3840-19200 EU, 16 Quad
4 chamber. Can use the 57120 He and for thorium 59640 He.
erp=ALDsXILdayTWaIJcWisBvH1kzuR4kxA6mAbbK7AnVSlLNk/W8EIXMsMsCeZQcLwZHp2uAw== Component list: 12 60k NaK Coolant Cell 8 Iridium Neutron Reflector 16 Quad Fuel Rod (Uranium) 6 Reactor Plating |
6240-27200 EU, 24 Quad
4 chamber
Can use 57120 for uranium for thorium 59640 He. Net production of 25K EU/t and needs 1 EV VF. erp=ALDsXILdaypBjmMk8+jzFIllCi3+MPO75DhHP33FRgUc+cFBAFDMLjVRFrracDQ+mvf6Aw== Component list: 18 60k NaK Coolant Cell 24 Quad Fuel Rod (Uranium) |
32000 EU, 30 Quad Uranium
Just under 1A LuV
erp=LDsXILda3jNNLFGAGd8I/XyVFGKLHeZjGXEzBVM56ghIg+A/GSvdLqFV6XDa+fcSIMheAw== Component list: 17 60k NaK Coolant Cell 30 Quad Fuel Rod (Uranium) 1 Reactor Plating |
7680-38400 EU, 36 Quad Uranium
Uranium needs 57120 He and 57440 He and 57024 He.
erp=Cw7FyC3YGSpofPcg3v7Rt2rIU8Ertcdf6BVVwHoR5RykZCApIZ+9C+vQtOmIG4832SYIXgM= Component list: 18 60k NaK Coolant Cell 36 Quad Fuel Rod (Uranium) |
8720-43600 EU, 40 Quad Uranium
The best reasonable one. Recommend having multiple filters for this design. One way to get them is to run the reactor until the cells are at a heat value you want to filter with. erp=Cw7FyC3kcVS1sfZUtBvdS2qkEOSe59Dgp7iuvnWbZCzpZ/V3ZcOJ+EtvmpBNcsCudQHjWgM= Component list: 14 60k NaK Coolant Cell 40 Quad Fuel Rod (Uranium) |
7,906,206 EU, 40 The Cores
For the truly insane. BTW, that's about 3A of UHV.
erp=Cw7FyC3vyrReM8xP0BfhBFnUIte4+wusJsNiqGApvc4Wr6ljg/HxpH9OHheDX7qa5HQmmgM= Component list: 14 1080k Space Coolant Cell 40 Fuel Rod (The Core) |
Sample Rod Breeder Reactors
90 EU, 9-9 Single Rod
2 chamber
Reactor planner does not yet have glowstone/Lithium cells. This design will give 27 breeding ticks per reactor tick. This means a set of 9 thorium rods should charge 135 (27 * 5) target rods in total. Component list: 9 Fuel Rod (Thorium) 9 Fuel Rod (Breeding Target) 6 Overclocked Heat Vent 6 Advanced Heat Vent |
Sample Item Breeder Reactors
Single Rod Breeders
270-1350 EU, 27 Single Rod
erp=bpO50cponWp43KyK6WY6FaA7+gt5dmGYdWzaKwnSsCTFspuw8b7FXHWOUKD4Xlfktdg5oAM=
Component list: 27 Fuel Rod (Thorium) - any type? 7 Overclocked Heat Vent 20 Reactor Plating |
90-450 EU, 9 Single Rod
any type, 0 chamber
erp=Buk7nRymLwTIJ7U+ognWJ4sGGPygcAyLMoOUYYaaHQTuFyEIt7UCk/Ht4hm+Cu2gAw== Component list: 9 Fuel Rod (Thorium) 2 Overclocked Heat Vent 7 Reactor Plating |
Mass Production Breeders
1680-2800 EU, 14 Quad Thorium/Dual Uranium
4 chamber
erp=Buk7nRymLwt4HZRNzw1hWKuL2KM8qGFvZxEMXVSEp5bC3OsCK0De4RffUikgK74M2ff4Aw== Component list: 27 Overclocked Heat Vent 14 Quad Fuel Rod (Thorium) or Dual Fuel Rod (Uranium) 1 Reactor Plating |
1920 EU, 16 Quad Thorium
4 chamber. The planner says it's unstable but works ingame. The uranium equivalent however, does NOT.
erp=Buk7nRymLxL7m5ZGb8jXAZYmLvKbw8QtjYyvHQKaexIc0egF34NnVhYiGAKSYsT7qezkAw== Component list: 2 Heat Exchanger 21 Overclocked Heat Vent 16 Quad Fuel Rod (Thorium) 3 Reactor Plating |
1260-3600 EU, 18 Quad Thorium/Dual Uranium
erp=bpO50cpsAJVHFH1pDDG7Bh9DY6ssmUIOduglgVrGSNlV/ppvTshl3LYn6+h9WkrdJl8FLAM=
Component list: 34 Overclocked Heat Vent 18 Quad Fuel Rod (Thorium) or Dual Fuel Rod (Uranium) 2 Reactor Plating |
2280-3800 EU, 19 Quad Thorium/Dual Uranium
erp=bpO50cpvAea5wzGrDrgIM+dcC7gIzqOMjbPLWBXZ3XUOYi3cnjH/UE5UZI2wCSx+qO01xAM=
Component list: 4 Component Heat Vent 26 Overclocked Heat Vent 19 Quad Fuel Rod (Thorium) or Dual Fuel Rod (Uranium) 5 Reactor Plating |
4000 EU, 19 Dual Uranium and 4 Single Uranium
A challenge to automate!
erp=bpO50cpohv999daNzlO8zbu2FlcL5w4D4y/z79oiZmFYvfCno3fw5IAVjfZacHOmFWs7wAM= Component list: 4 Component Heat Vent 19 Dual Fuel Rod (Uranium) 4 Fuel Rod (Uranium) 27 Overclocked Heat Vent |
1320-2200, 11 Quad Thorium/Dual Uranium
2 chamber, highly stackable
erp=bpO50cpi8EyKWNHtoyb5PT6Pwyl7P4WMk49thhuN0g9DMxag8Xo87jlLUok0mc2mmAM= Component list: 1 Component Heat Vent 15 Overclocked Heat Vent 11 Quad Fuel Rod (Thorium) or Dual Fuel Rod (Uranium) 3 Reactor Plating |