Just had an idea...

[Shakie666]

Sorry if this is in the wrong sub-forum, if so could a nice mod/admin please move it?

Anyway, just wondered what everyone thought of the idea of a nuclear engine. You feed it uranium as fuel, pump water into it, and hey presto - power. To be worth using over a steam boiler, it ought to have a ridonkulous power output - 50mj/t, maybe more? I also thought it could use the GT nuclear fuels with the same effects as normal (thorium - 1/5th power & water consumption, but last 5 times as long, or plutonium for double the power/water consumption/time). So whaddya think? I just thought it'd be nice for people who don't plan on using IC2 to still have a use for all that uranium.

 

[Slaagathor]

I think there is an option for that in the IC2 config, *if* you have Railcraft installed... though I've never used it so I may be wrong.

# Enable steam-outputting reactors if Railcraft is installed
B:enableSteamReactor=false

 

[Shakie666]

I think there is an option for that in the IC2 config, *if* you have Railcraft installed... though I've never used it so I may be wrong.

# Enable steam-outputting reactors if Railcraft is installed
B:enableSteamReactor=false

Is that so? How much power do they give?

 

[Lambert2191]

depends entirely upon the setup you use for your reactor.

 

[Shakie666]

depends entirely upon the setup you use for your reactor.

Well obviously I knew that, I meant is there some sort of "exchange rate" so you can determine how much power you'll get. E.g. 5 eu/t=2mj/t.

 

[slay_mithos]

Yeah, that is not what you described.

This option makes the reactor output steam instead of IC2 power, so you need to plan accordingly.

That does not make the setting up any easier, you still need to make your reactor, and design, it's just that you can use steam instead of EU as an output.

 

[Shakie666]

I know the setting up will be the same, etc. I meant: how do you know how much steam you're getting from a given reactor? If, for example, a reactor would normally produce 100 eu/t, how much steam do you get?

 

[crazy_fab]

I don't know the ratio but I can just point out that people have been complaining that it made nuclear power more annoying.
For what you are asking, I think it is unlikely due to uranium being IC² item and engine/MJ being more buildcraft.

 

[Chocorate]

I think it might be a little overpowered (it's rare for me to use that word) because it's kind of easy to find uranium, and it's like a Nuclear Reactor but without all the setup and danger. I'd love to see it in the game, just maybe toned down a bit.

 

[jumpfight5]

Maybe a 3x3 inventory in the engine that you'd have to fix up too?
And to test how much steam, you could enable Gregtech's computercube, set up a reactor, and see what it produces. (Or just put a uranium cell+heat vent and see how much steam comes out). It's not documented enough (like IC2 crops), so it's very iffy. And where's the water that the reactor turns into steam?

 

[slay_mithos]

Apparently, in IC2 beta 109, "1 uranium cell puts out 16 steam".
From the planner, the same uranium cell seems to output 5 EU/t.

That being said, the best way to find out in a good way would be to put out a test world, spawn the reactor, as well as the monitoring tools, put a single uranium cell.
Write down the output, then change the config, and write down the new output.

I don't quite have the time to do that right now (3:21 AM, need to sleep), but I might do it tomorrow if needed.

 

[jumpfight5]

16 steam....isn't a lot, is it?

Neither is 5 eu/t.
Well, a 36 HP boiler can make 144 mj/t (I think) or about 300 eu/t (I think) through Steam Boilers. So...5 eu is ~2.4 mj?

Unless I did everything here wrong. But I think steam might output more energy, especially with PowerConverters.

 

[Lambert2191]

So...5 eu is ~2.4 mj?

that seems to be consistent with the magma crucible. Cobble+20kmj = 40k eu
seems like 1mj=2eu (roughly)
ofc then crucibling 'rack breaks that completely...

 

[jumpfight5]

Well that's nice, doesn't break anything. Though the steam should get you a little more bang for your buck, due to the infrastructure required.

 

[slay_mithos]

Well, the number might not be the real one, it just happens that it is the only one I found.

As for the low value, it is to be multiplied, just like for eu, depending on how you setup your reactor.
Using Quad cells, placing them near an other cell, many things influence how much it will be multiplied by in the end.

 

[jumpfight5]

Well I'm assuming they're multiplied at the same rate from eu/mj.
I hope...

 

[Saice]

Actual to be honest a nuke recator in the real world does not make power from the cells. it makes heat which is used to make steam that is then used to make power.

So GT/IC2 have it backwards. Recators should not make power at all form there core only create steam.

 

[Nemesis688]

Actual to be honest a nuke recator in the real world does not make power from the cells. it makes heat which is used to make steam that is then used to make power.

Did anyone else feel rather disappointed when they learned that? I know I was when I found out like 10 years ago. I can never see them in the same light...

 

[brujon]

I did not... I actually thought it real awesome, how we still haven't really gotten past steam engines ever since they kickstarted the Industrial Revolution. Even after all this time, the most efficient way of producing energy we know about is still by heating up water and using the conveyed kinetic energy to spin turbines that are surrounded by coils, that generate the electricity. It's the same basic principle, refined over and over again. We just changed up how steam was generated, from coal, to nuclear power. Even Hydro power is still water based. The most efficient solar power designs are also water based, as they are solar turbines (much like the ones on Factorization), using mirrors to heat up water to steam. Even fusion reactors are planned to be used to heat up water and spin turbines...

It's frigging hilarious. We are living in a steampunk age and we don't even know it, everything is powered by steam one way or the other.

 

[Nemesis688]

See I feel the exact opposite of that. I was just like 'really? Nuclear powers is just a glorified steam generator'. But yeah I agree, it has all been refinement. Finding a more efficient way of spinning a turbine.