[Reactorcraft] Survival reactor achieved!

[Demosthenex]

After experimenting with many designs in creative, I've built my reactor in our very hard mode survival server! I used what I consider a very simple design, yet in implementation it was still huge, complex, and very powerful! 940 MW/s and more steam than a single turbine could handle.

The slide show is on Imgur: https://imgur.com/a/Ky7BB

I'd prefer to answer any questions here.

I can't post enough accolades for Reika, the author of Rotarycraft and Reactorcraft. His mods are incredibly complex, amazingly powerful, and very intellectually stimulating! Instead of making a perfect "magic block" reactor, I had to experiment with individual parts until I could create my own from pieces! That's so much more satisfying. Thanks again Reika.

 

[Reika]

I can't post enough accolades for Reika, the author of Rotarycraft and Reactorcraft. His mods are incredibly complex, amazingly powerful, and very intellectually stimulating! Instead of making a perfect "magic block" reactor, I had to experiment with individual parts until I could create my own from pieces! That's so much more satisfying. Thanks again Reika.

 

[abculatter_2]

That is a really cool system, and if it weren't for my computer's crappiness you would've just persuaded me to continue on my rotarycraft word I've been neglecting for awhile now.

I do have one question, though; is there any reason for you not using breeders? Is it because of the waste, or extra complexity of sodium and heat exchangers? Or was this just easier?

 

[Demosthenex]

That is a really cool system, and if it weren't for my computer's crappiness you would've just persuaded me to continue on my rotarycraft word I've been neglecting for awhile now.

I do have one question, though; is there any reason for you not using breeders? Is it because of the waste, or extra complexity of sodium and heat exchangers? Or was this just easier?

Breeder reactors are for making higher grade fuel (plutonium). This was the next step up from an HTGR, which I had previously. I'm considering swapping over to ammonia to double the power output, and I have lots of low grade thorium to try in it next.

 

[RavynousHunter]

If my server adds Rotary/ReactorCraft, I might just try somethin like this. In creative, first, of course, just to make sure that things line up enough so I don't accidentally irradiate everything in a 5km range and make another Chernobyl.

 

[Demosthenex]

If my server adds Rotary/ReactorCraft, I might just try somethin like this. In creative, first, of course, just to make sure that things line up enough so I don't accidentally irradiate everything in a 5km range and make another Chernobyl.

I've been experimenting with reactors for quite a while, and this is the first stable reactor at scale I've gotten working in survival. It absolutely must be chunk loaded, which ruined some of my past attempts in 1.6.

I'm pleased with the amount of power, and you could make a bigger one. I actually think this is a simple reactor. If it were one layer think it wouldn't be much at all, that Reika added the capability to stack components is incredible. The shielding is also a huge issue, as you can see it's most of the bulk. I may try the bedrock ingots to shrink it a bit.

 

[RavynousHunter]

Aye, I wouldn't try building one of those without having access to some form of chunk loading, lol. I've had enough bad experiences with non-loaded IC2 reactors to know that's a bad idea.

 

[Pyure]

Breeder reactors are for making higher grade fuel (plutonium). This was the next step up from an HTGR, which I had previously. I'm considering swapping over to ammonia to double the power output, and I have lots of low grade thorium to try in it next.

Is it correct to call plutonium higher grade? It does burn hotter and faster, but from what I could tell it didn't give considerably more steam per pellet than uranium. I could be wrong on that.

For me breeders were simply around to let you stretch out your fuel supplies (by recycling spent fuel and using up all those useless extra pellets you get). This wasn't really necessary: there's ridiculous quantities of the ore. But they certainly were fun to play with.

 

[Demosthenex]

Is it correct to call plutonium higher grade? It does burn hotter and faster, but from what I could tell it didn't give considerably more steam per pellet than uranium. I could be wrong on that.

For me breeders were simply around to let you stretch out your fuel supplies (by recycling spent fuel and using up all those useless extra pellets you get). This wasn't really necessary: there's ridiculous quantities of the ore. But they certainly were fun to play with.

Higher temperature == more power.

Even if they have the same number of interactions, they should produce more total power.

 

[Demosthenex]

Aye, I wouldn't try building one of those without having access to some form of chunk loading, lol. I've had enough bad experiences with non-loaded IC2 reactors to know that's a bad idea.

The issue wasn't just chunk loading... We had limited duration Chickenchunks loaders, so I got 4 hours after logout. When that expired it'd make a crater on next login.

 

[SourC00lguy]

I didn't know there were neutron reflectors?

When were those around? Do they charge the direction 90 degrees or something?, because I've wanted that for a reactor(although I can't remember why haha. )

Or are they the ones that just reflect the neutron in the opposite direction

 

[Pyure]

I didn't know there were neutron reflectors?

When were those around? Do they charge the direction 90 degrees or something?, because I've wanted that for a reactor(although I can't remember why haha. )

Or are they the ones that just reflect the neutron in the opposite direction

They've been around for ages. They used to reflect 100%, now they're down to, i dunno, 50% or something. They just bounce back 180.

The reason you wanted them is because they greatly multiply the value of your neutron emissions. They're almost like extra cores that way.

 

[Demosthenex]

They've been around for ages. They used to reflect 100%, now they're down to, i dunno, 50% or something. They just bounce back 180.

The reason you wanted them is because they greatly multiply the value of your neutron emissions. They're almost like extra cores that way.

You can also use the spent fuel container neutrons to feedback to the reactor.

 

[Pyure]

You can also use the spent fuel container neutrons to feedback to the reactor.

From vertical angles too

That's probably how I'd use them. Use "standard" blocks (cores, reflectors) for horizontal angles, and leverage the vertical emissions from waste for top/bottom.

 

[Demosthenex]

From vertical angles too

That's probably how I'd use them. Use "standard" blocks (cores, reflectors) for horizontal angles, and leverage the vertical emissions from waste for top/bottom.

That's precisely what I did. I put two waste containers over top of my reactor, with reflectors above. That way neutrons emitted downward and a portion of those that went upward and were reflected feed back into the reactor. The rest are lost to the shielding...

I know that bedrock ingots are supposed to be 97% shielding, but I'd love to see a 100% shield made from bedrock ingots and depleted fuel in the pulse furnace. It'd be worthwhile to streamline the system.

 

[Pyure]

I know that bedrock ingots are supposed to be 97% shielding, but I'd love to see a 100% shield made from bedrock ingots and depleted fuel in the pulse furnace. It'd be worthwhile to streamline the system.

I actually second this. RoC lore establishes bedrock materials as really-damn-amazing. There's a precedent to make bedrock shielding impenetrable and would give another toy for advanced nuclear engineers to build and streamline their reactors.

 

[Demosthenex]

I actually second this. RoC lore establishes bedrock materials as really-damn-amazing. There's a precedent to make bedrock shielding impenetrable and would give another toy for advanced nuclear engineers to build and streamline their reactors.

Like I said, the bedrock ingot block (9x bedrock ingot) is 97% and plenty expensive. The depleted fuel can only be obtained by being at the reactor stage, so perhaps mixing bedrock dust and depleted dust you get shielding dust? Then pulse jet?

 

[Pyure]

Like I said, the bedrock ingot block (9x bedrock ingot) is 97% and plenty expensive. The depleted fuel can only be obtained by being at the reactor stage, so perhaps mixing bedrock dust and depleted dust you get shielding dust? Then pulse jet?

I'll code it in now!....via proxy. @Reika?

BTW I also like implementations that make more use of the depleted fuel.

 

[zemerick]

Neutron Reflector is 25% chance. So I would recommend upgrading to at least 2. 3 is pretty hard into diminishing returns, but still does help some. 4 is basically a waste, it'll only help a very tiny bit.

1: 25% of neutrons make it back into the core. ( Note though that there's a chance they won't interact with the core still...that's just adding more complexity to the equation, and is very tiny difference by the end. )
2: 39.0625% ( Approx. At this point you can get a neutron bouncing around infinitely between 1 and 2, I believe requiring calculus to get the exact answer. Which is more work than I feel like doing. )
3: 48.1625% ( This is an even rougher number. )

Note: The actual number will be higher for 2+, as I simply calculated the percentage chance a couple layers deep. After that though, it's only a tiny difference.

The bedrock block is 97.5% to be precise btw. As such, I would recommend going at least 2 deep with it. 3 Steel gets you 99.9% coverage. 2 Bedrock is 99.999375% but as mentioned 1 is only 97.5%.

 

[Demosthenex]

Neutron Reflector is 25% chance. So I would recommend upgrading to at least 2. 3 is pretty hard into diminishing returns, but still does help some. 4 is basically a waste, it'll only help a very tiny bit.

1: 25% of neutrons make it back into the core. ( Note though that there's a chance they won't interact with the core still...that's just adding more complexity to the equation, and is very tiny difference by the end. )
2: 39.0625% ( Approx. At this point you can get a neutron bouncing around infinitely between 1 and 2, I believe requiring calculus to get the exact answer. Which is more work than I feel like doing. )
3: 48.1625% ( This is an even rougher number. )

Note: The actual number will be higher for 2+, as I simply calculated the percentage chance a couple layers deep. After that though, it's only a tiny difference.

The bedrock block is 97.5% to be precise btw. As such, I would recommend going at least 2 deep with it. 3 Steel gets you 99.9% coverage. 2 Bedrock is 99.999375% but as mentioned 1 is only 97.5%.

Yeah, I never felt that the chance of getting something useful out of the reflector was high enough to justify using more than one.