Big Reactors : Smallest self sustaining?

[neeneko]

So I see people in various threads talking about their giant big reactors running MRF drills and getting enough yellorium ore to keep the reactor running and this got me wondering what the smallest self sustaining reactor design might be.

For own attempt (so far) I followed the 9x9x3 'most efficient' from that spreadsheet that gets passed around (passive cooling, one ring cryo, one ring ender),complete with fuel reprocessor, but the best I have managed so far is 14 blocks of yellorium ore for 64 ingots. Even with factorization processing (running DW20, so that is the best return I know of) that is no where near enough to keep it going.

Is it even possible with a passive cooling setup? Has anyone managed it?

 

[DrKnoz]

I guess it totally depends on the modpack. Running Techworld2 1.1.7 on 1.64, Uranium is insanely abundant in that pack. Worldgen has IC2E,BR and RC uranium ores. One 5x5x6 and one 7x7x10 reactor running a MFR drill and providing another 10 krf for other uses. (Reactors being overloaded at 1200° - not the most efficient system). I have so much uranium, even without Rotarycraft x3/x5 ore processing, it would be a non issue. I do not have hard numbers though, because a lot of the uranium in my storage (2500 ingots) is still from quarry use. But since the MFR drill works with the ore gen tables, i am getting 3 types of uranium ore - a lot of it.

Have you thought about using laser focii? I don't use them because i want all ores. But it might help you.

Does dw20 have RC ? I am currently working on using RC nuclear power, because big reactors are just too big, no pun intended. They, and their turbines are even worse, are just a gigantic waste of space.

 

[rhn]

Well... This is very hard to compare due to the enormous amount of aspects that can influence it. Just of the bat there is number of ores registered with to the Laser drills spawn list(more ores to choose from makes Yellorium more rare), config settings of power/fuel settings of BR, vertical position of the laser drill(that still has an influence?)....

Are you adding loads of Yellow Focus? Or possibly worth it to use Lime instead of you can convert Uranium to Yellorium.

 

[neeneko]

Have you thought about using laser focii? I don't use them because i want all ores. But it might help you.

Are you adding loads of Yellow Focus?

Ah yes, I should have specified that bit. Yep, the test drill is configured with 6 yellow foci. Focuses? I am never quite sure there.

Uranium is insanely abundant in that pack

Hrm, I was not aware that you could use uranium. Though now I am thinking how cool it would be if approaching a uranium fueled reactor caused player damage. I will have to check the output chest to see how much of that was gathered.

 

[DrKnoz]

Techworld 2 uses ore dictionary. So Yellorium = IC2 Uranium = RC Pitchblende , meaning you get an epic load of nuke fuel. Which is nice

 

[Zarkov]

I already mentioned this in the other thread, but if you have access to Gendustry, I'd say that's a pretty good alternative to MFR laser drills. That mod puts the radioactive bees within reach, even if you're not pathologically fond of bee breeding. And with the industrial apiaries, you basically get a resource output that works. My setup with 5 apiaries needed ~800 RF/t in total, which generated a small surplus of yellorium powering a 0.95 mB/t reactor (less than 1% of reactor power spent to be self-sustaining).

 

[rhn]

Though now I am thinking how cool it would be if approaching a uranium fueled reactor caused player damage.

That is actually a normal mechanic if you use the Uranium the way it is intended

Well technically not the uranium fuel reactors unless something is really wrong(or you are messing with some complex setups), but what comes after that in the power chain.

 

[neeneko]

That is actually a normal mechanic if you use the Uranium the way it is intended

Well technically not the uranium fuel reactors unless something is really wrong(or you are messing with some complex setups), but what comes after that in the power chain.

I was actually kinda disappointed BR did not go this direction. Though perhaps I have a little too much fun building safe zones and shutdown systems.

 

[DrKnoz]

Wait a minute....doesnt direwolf stuff have increased fuel consumption. Yeah....it has.
x10
Holy f'in shit.

Thats gonna leave a mark. Looks like your modpack doesn't like you. Time to optimize, baby.

 

[neeneko]

Wait a minute....doesnt direwolf stuff have increased fuel consumption. Yeah....it has.
x10
Holy f'in shit.

Thats gonna leave a mark. Looks like your modpack doesn't like you. Time to optimize, baby.

Wow. I had not thought to check the config, but that is a serious increase! Though for some reason mine only has x8.

Anyone know why they did that? Seems kinda extreme.

 

[ChemE]

I haven't burned through a stack of yellorium ingots yet but my favorite passively cooled reactor is generating a significant excess of yellorium. I've used up 10 yellorium ingots so far and generated 25 back. I'm using a nice little SFM setup to feed a yellorium ingot if and only if there is not a blutonium to feed. I'm using six lime foci on the laser drill, and I'm using an EnderIO SAG mill with dark steel grinding balls to maximize my ore output from the uranium. I'll update my numbers once the whole stack of yellorium fuel has been burned up.

NOTE: This is using DW20 1.7.10 1.2.1 with the 8x fuel burn rate penalty; still easy to generate an excess with a truly efficient passively cooled reactor. While boring, this is wayyyyy more efficient that the "most efficient" builds I see floating around.

EDIT: 22 yellorium burned 53 yellorium ingots produced...
Made my stack of yellorium ingots back and still have 36 of the originals left...
Final results are 137 ingots produced per stack of ingots burned

 

[DrKnoz]

Well, i did not check the pack, but the nice simulation at http://br.sidoh.org/#reactor-prompt showed it to be something like x10 and i remembered that.

Yeah, well , the reasons are obvious, are they not. While i do believe that x10 or x8 is extreme, i do think that x 1 is a bit OP. Seriously. The only thing which lessens the imba is the massive size of big reactors. But even with that. At 1x i can overload my reactors to 1200° and still not run into any fuel problems whatsoever. That is a bit op, don't you think. Doesn't matter though, i will probably go to RC reactors soon, much cooler anyways.

 

[rhn]

In all seriousness talking about optimizing efficiency and not going for active reactor + turbines is a bit silly

 

[ChemE]

In all seriousness talking about optimizing efficiency and not going for active reactor + turbines is a bit silly

I agree, but it is a fun and interesting challenge to generate an excess while dealing with both the passive reactor's loss of efficiency and with DW20's nerf of 8x on fuel burn rate.

 

[neeneko]

In all seriousness talking about optimizing efficiency and not going for active reactor + turbines is a bit silly

Yeah, I suspect I am going to have to move the setup over to active cooling, but I wanted to see if I could do it with passive first.

It is a pity it is just a closed loop of water, I kinda liked finally having a use for cryo and ender, and it took me further away from my usual RC steam powered stuff.

 

[rhn]

Yeah, I suspect I am going to have to move the setup over to active cooling, but I wanted to see if I could do it with passive first.

It is a pity it is just a closed loop of water, I kinda liked finally having a use for cryo and ender, and it took me further away from my usual RC steam powered stuff.

Ehm you still need Cryo (and possibly ender, but probably not) for your reactor. There is NO difference in reactor mechanics between active and passive(other than active receiving a bonus to cooling).

And what is the problem with it being a closed loop in regards of water? That is how turbine systems work.

 

[Bibble]

Wow. I had not thought to check the config, but that is a serious increase! Though for some reason mine only has x8.

Anyone know why they did that? Seems kinda extreme.

As I recall it was because he played around with it, and judged it that the cost vs. energy for it was too low, so he nuked the efficiency.

 

[neeneko]

Ehm you still need Cryo (and possibly ender, but probably not) for your reactor. There is NO difference in reactor mechanics between active and passive(other than active receiving a bonus to cooling).

Ah! I misunderstood how they worked then. Somehow I got it in my head that the reactor was water filled in such setups.

 

[ChemE]

Yeah, I suspect I am going to have to move the setup over to active cooling, but I wanted to see if I could do it with passive first...

I am getting 2.3 to 2.5 yellorium ingots back for every ingot I feed my 13x13x1 passive reactor. So any reactor that outputs 6kRF/mB yellorium or better will generate an excess. So, how small a passive reactor can one design that still achieves this fuel efficiency?

Even this reactor should generate an excess!
Even smaller reactor with sufficient fuel efficiency

 

[rhn]

Ah! I misunderstood how they worked then. Somehow I got it in my head that the reactor was water filled in such setups.

Nope. RF/steam is created by transferring Heat from the core of fuel rods to the "Casing" of the reactor. You need the best possible thermal conductive materials to do so while keeping the reactor at optimal temperatures AND fertilizing the fuel rods with radiation. Same mechanics in both situations.