More efficient/completely safe nuclear reactor setups?

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Spachi1281

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You folks all realize that over in the IC2 forums they have a thread for top designs for nuclear reactors right? [OFFICIAL] List of good reactor designs

From the looks of it, self-cooling efficiency tops out at a Mark 1 EB reactor with no running costs. Pair that with a nice breeder reactor and you should be set!
 

Omicron

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Yes, but some people here are not registered at the IC2 forums and would nevertheless have an actual discussion as to how such results are reached and how the different components should be utilized together. This is as much a thread about the theory of building it than it is about posting finished designs.
 

Peppe

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Another copperless reactor setup to the thread that I came up messing with the reactor planner:
21p7j5mk5x0q9g7iedt0n7fzfa712pusvz1ta8hjwu0py3v8lxqss802zfxwrqpoav0q84b7251spbw

Mark I EB (12 single uranium cells)
230 eu/t
effi 3,83

And if you can afford 1 inr:
http://www.talonfiremage.pwp.blueyo...hiyfh4rr3ftj7o6jrcjkeygzbon00wflqr5fo21kmxm4c

Mark II-E EB
235 eu/t
effi 3,92

From the new reactor thread on IC2 forum, http://forum.industrial-craft.net/index.php?page=Thread&threadID=8966:

Cheaper version of a 230 EU/t reactor:
http://www.talonfiremage.pwp.blueyo...2ua7moh5ovdbv81jhvdhheyzur5eeyrtsv4eaje4cem80
 

Peppe

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I think the nuclear power needs a little re-balance -- unless i am just using it wrong -- just about anything I try to build or see in the planner loses to just making more of the 100 EU/t 0 chamber reactors. Wish there was some exponential growth to it.

Example, you can make a 6 chamber beast that runs ~280+ EU/t with some running cost. Reactor basically uses up a 3x3 space.

Or for less resources overall, no running cost make three 100EU/t reactors and only use up a third of the space. Fuel use is a little higher, but still efficient enough at 3.33 vs ~4.25.
 

Shakie666

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I think the nuclear power needs a little re-balance -- unless i am just using it wrong -- just about anything I try to build or see in the planner loses to just making more of the 100 EU/t 0 chamber reactors. Wish there was some exponential growth to it.

Example, you can make a 6 chamber beast that runs ~280+ EU/t with some running cost. Reactor basically uses up a 3x3 space.

Or for less resources overall, no running cost make three 100EU/t reactors and only use up a third of the space. Fuel use is a little higher, but still efficient enough at 3.33 vs ~4.25.
...Except uranium fuel is constantly being consumed, the reactors themselves aren't (unless they blow up, which with a Mk 1 is basically impossible). That, and copper, iron and tin are WAY more common than uranium.

How is that copperless? According to resource needed, the amount of copper you need is 674.
Whay he means is that there's no copper being used in making duo/quad uranium cells.
 

Spachi1281

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I think the nuclear power needs a little re-balance -- unless i am just using it wrong -- just about anything I try to build or see in the planner loses to just making more of the 100 EU/t 0 chamber reactors. Wish there was some exponential growth to it.

Example, you can make a 6 chamber beast that runs ~280+ EU/t with some running cost. Reactor basically uses up a 3x3 space.

Or for less resources overall, no running cost make three 100EU/t reactors and only use up a third of the space. Fuel use is a little higher, but still efficient enough at 3.33 vs ~4.25.

Well technically, there are reactors that can produce large amounts of EU at the expense of requiring user input from melting down. It's even possible to automate these non-mk 1 reactors to start/stop/restart but there are some underlining issues (i.e. server lag) that can cause a redstone system to go haywire.

As for Mk 1, I haven't personally seen high EU output or higher efficiency past 4.5, but like Shakie666 mentioned, these are safe and don't blow up. As for uranium being rare, if you use breeder reactors, you can greatly enhance your fuel reserves. Overall, I would say that copper is the most rare given how much of it you use to construct reactors and reactor components.
 

Peppe

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Looks safe run it!















Though you might check the condensators and replacement information... You will need 9000+lapis available to repair the condensators, and be able to swap all of them out with a fresh set every 2 seconds.... should not be a problem *


Edit: *Sarcasm -- no inventory management system could keep up with that replacement rate or volume without a very high risk of crater if it was ever even a few tenths of a second off.
 

Omicron

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Not to mention that the heat distribution is uneven. Some condensators are receiving more than three times the heat input of others. Trying to run automated replacing for that is impossible.

Also, only 5.5 efficiency, that's not really that hot. Plus I don't even want to know how you'd legitimately get that much plutonium at once...
 

jeuvke

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Is there a way to make a quad plutonium reactor with an efficiency of 7 without using any redstone or lapis coolant thingies?

Plus I don't even want to know how you'd legitimately get that much plutonium at once...
Maybe the canvas bag dupe bug?
 

bob marley

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Is there a way to make a quad plutonium reactor with an efficiency of 7 without using any redstone or lapis coolant thingies?

Plus I don't even want to know how you'd legitimately get that much plutonium at once...


Maybe the canvas bag dupe bug?


WOW just WOW *facepalm* do you read or just type stuff?
 

Omicron

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Notice the word "legitimately" there? :p

Anyway, a quad plutonium cell surrounded by neutron reflectors generates over 1000 heat per second. You can't cool that with just internal vents, I'm afraid. You could use Shneekey's distributed coolant system (dumping the heat in coolant cells, swapping in fresh ones and pumping the depleted ones into cooling towers where they are restored), but I'm not sure you'd want to bother with that...

A good alternative are GregTech's hybrid reactors though. They run off single plutonium cells surrounded by quad thorium cells, which creates a sort of snowball effect between them that results in more pulses than conventionally possible. Thus you can get over efficiency 9 with them, and they are convenient in their fuel requirements because the same process you use to generate plutonium also gives you thorium.

There's even a crazy setup dubbed the "hybreeder", which is an efficiency 9.175, thorium-neutral hybrid reactor that pulls 367 EU/t and at the same time breeds almost three times its own fuel need out of depleted isotopes. However it is quite difficult to automate, since you not only need to constantly remove re-enriched isotopes and insert depleted isotopes into that specific slot, but also occasionally replace the plutonium cells and remove depleted isotopes from those specific slots. Off the top of my head, I wouldn't know how to do this - I know some GregTech machinery can target specific inventory slots, as can Factorization routers (but they require Factorization energy come the next update), but I've never even attempted doing anything like that.

Still, if you feel like tackling it - or running it manually - here's the layout: http://www.talonfiremage.pwp.blueyo...4qbzfj7njhh1swr8v5nzsm9upgcbzzc239mx3b3o7pvr4

The thing was designed by Peppe with some help of Requia on the IC2 forums, if I recall correctly.

Also keep in mind that GregTech's 1.5 update will change how plutonium works a bit. I'm told hybrid reactors still work (Greg himself wants them as a buff to nuclear reactors), but the exact numbers and setups might change.
 

Peppe

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Notice the word "legitimately" there? :p

Anyway, a quad plutonium cell surrounded by neutron reflectors generates over 1000 heat per second. You can't cool that with just internal vents, I'm afraid. You could use Shneekey's distributed coolant system (dumping the heat in coolant cells, swapping in fresh ones and pumping the depleted ones into cooling towers where they are restored), but I'm not sure you'd want to bother with that...

A good alternative are GregTech's hybrid reactors though. They run off single plutonium cells surrounded by quad thorium cells, which creates a sort of snowball effect between them that results in more pulses than conventionally possible. Thus you can get over efficiency 9 with them, and they are convenient in their fuel requirements because the same process you use to generate plutonium also gives you thorium.

There's even a crazy setup dubbed the "hybreeder", which is an efficiency 9.175, thorium-neutral hybrid reactor that pulls 367 EU/t and at the same time breeds almost three times its own fuel need out of depleted isotopes. However it is quite difficult to automate, since you not only need to constantly remove re-enriched isotopes and insert depleted isotopes into that specific slot, but also occasionally replace the plutonium cells and remove depleted isotopes from those specific slots. Off the top of my head, I wouldn't know how to do this - I know some GregTech machinery can target specific inventory slots, as can Factorization routers (but they require Factorization energy come the next update), but I've never even attempted doing anything like that.

Still, if you feel like tackling it - or running it manually - here's the layout: http://www.talonfiremage.pwp.blueyo...4qbzfj7njhh1swr8v5nzsm9upgcbzzc239mx3b3o7pvr4

The thing was designed by Peppe with some help of Requia on the IC2 forums, if I recall correctly.

Also keep in mind that GregTech's 1.5 update will change how plutonium works a bit. I'm told hybrid reactors still work (Greg himself wants them as a buff to nuclear reactors), but the exact numbers and setups might change.

That Peppe guy, so many half finished projects -- never completes anything i swear.


Anyway the only inventory manager that makes sense for multi-fuel slot sensitive reactors is GT's Advanced Regulator. For the 367 EU/t fuel layouts this is the slot to fuel setup (and isotope):
paYErWu.png

Haven't finished the rest of the system yet, but i think AE will do the extraction quite well of depleted and re-enriched cells. Then output those back to a centrifuge to make thorium. Haven't decided on what will be best to restock the advanced regulator, so it always has a cycle worth of fuel and an isotope -- guess you could always make an advanced regulator for each fuel type and not have to worry about the issue. Then AE could restock each regulator to full and everything will run smooth. Why make one when you can have 3 at triple the cost!
 
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Omicron

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I've managed to implement Pepe's suggestion using Applied Energistics... quite awesome what you can do with it :D Just supply copper, tin, uranium and coal dust, and the reactor will keep itself running indefinitely.

It did take quite a bit of tinkering though; getting the correct amount of quad thorium and plutonium cells into the advanced regulator without congesting it (and thereby halting the breeding process) required integrating it into the AE network with a ME storage bus that accepts only these two cells, while preformatting the storage device to accept anything BUT these two cells, and then also feeding the regulator with an export bus controlled by a level emitter monitoring the amount of quad thorium cells in the network. As such the reactor kind of needs to be in its own network, and can't be in the overall base network. However, I could imagine a practical way to bridge the two using Redpower (but this is a topic for another day).

Currently I am running a test cycle or two. I am a little worried about the strict sequential nature of AE's autocrafting process. It will breed 8 isotopes, then pause for 1000 seconds while the industrial centrifuge does its job, then complete the quad thorium cell, and only then start breeding new isotopes (and then wait another 1000 seconds). Since the centrifuge needs to do five runs to supply fuel for one cycle, and the reactor first needs to heat up to get to its full breeding speed, I thought I better doublecheck if the process runs fast enough.

Note that because of the AE network draining 10 EU/t and the centrifuge requiring 5x 100k EU, the reactor's output is lessened from 367 million EU to 356.5 million EU, and thus its efficiency drops from 9.175 to 8.9125. Still, I think it's a decent tradeoff for the full automation.
 

Peppe

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I've managed to implement Pepe's suggestion using Applied Energistics... quite awesome what you can do with it :D Just supply copper, tin, uranium and coal dust, and the reactor will keep itself running indefinitely.

It did take quite a bit of tinkering though; getting the correct amount of quad thorium and plutonium cells into the advanced regulator without congesting it (and thereby halting the breeding process) required integrating it into the AE network with a ME storage bus that accepts only these two cells, while preformatting the storage device to accept anything BUT these two cells, and then also feeding the regulator with an export bus controlled by a level emitter monitoring the amount of quad thorium cells in the network. As such the reactor kind of needs to be in its own network, and can't be in the overall base network. However, I could imagine a practical way to bridge the two using Redpower (but this is a topic for another day).

Currently I am running a test cycle or two. I am a little worried about the strict sequential nature of AE's autocrafting process. It will breed 8 isotopes, then pause for 1000 seconds while the industrial centrifuge does its job, then complete the quad thorium cell, and only then start breeding new isotopes (and then wait another 1000 seconds). Since the centrifuge needs to do five runs to supply fuel for one cycle, and the reactor first needs to heat up to get to its full breeding speed, I thought I better doublecheck if the process runs fast enough.

Note that because of the AE network draining 10 EU/t and the centrifuge requiring 5x 100k EU, the reactor's output is lessened from 367 million EU to 356.5 million EU, and thus its efficiency drops from 9.175 to 8.9125. Still, I think it's a decent tradeoff for the full automation.

Sounds like we made similar systems :p

If you don't mind using turtles there is a slot aware inventory upgrade for turtles added by misc peripherals.

I also ended up with 2 networks (actually 3 on my first attempt) and the same waiting for the centrifuge issue, which is not ideal. I am thinking of just setting the centrifuge as the export bus for enriched uranium. Maybe cut it off with an emiter if there is ever a fuel surplus...

For my second attempt without the centrifuge added i have this network design going:
Blue source/storage network. Feeds the interface with nuclear fuel types and isotopes (which it auto crafts on demand).
xnY3m1N.png


Green network right now stocks the turtles directly with one fuel type per turtle. Thinking of switching this up a bit and let each turtle request fuel using redstone and export buses. This will allow several reactors to run on the green network and have the fuel centrally stored.
bQaY4ed.png

Turtles open a lot of flexibility as well. You can use them as storage endpoints, or if you use export bus you can let the turtle itself control when it gets fuel/isotopes -- pulse the bus and get an item... DW20 style "nice".

Plan would be to extend the network on to as many reactors as needed and then the core crafting network supply the fuel.

Edit:
Think i can simplify and separate the networks more. If I have the green network pull out enriched sells and deliver them to the interface using an export bus -- it will return them to blue storage for centrifuging.
Then i can have the green network extend to any/all reactors and the blue network could hand off anywhere.
 

Omicron

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Unfortunately I refuse to use turtles or anything else computercraft adds on principle (I don't even load CC or Miscperipherals). I agree that it can be fun to code programs, but personally I feel it doesn't fit thematically, and more importantly, I want to play Minecraft and not teach a robot to play Minecraft for me :p

So no, no turtles here.

It works well so far even without them. It finished crafting the first quad thorium/single plutonium pair before the plutonium cells in the reactor dropped anwhere near 75%, so the crafting process is way ahead of schedule.

I can provide screenshots tomorrow, but for now, time to move my European butt into bed.
 
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Peppe

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Unfortunately I refuse to use turtles or anything else computercraft adds on principle (I don't even load CC or Miscperipherals). I agree that it can be fun to code programs, but personally I feel it doesn't fit thematically, and more importantly, I want to play Minecraft and not teach a robot to play Minecraft for me :p

So no, no turtles here.

It works well so far even without them. It finished crafting the first quad thorium/single plutonium pair before the plutonium cells in the reactor dropped anwhere near 75%, so the crafting process is way ahead of schedule.

I can provide screenshots tomorrow, but for now, time to move my European butt into bed.

I was surprised how much fuel it generated. I think one centrifuge is plenty, but i did not do the math on it. It should just need to process 5 cycles... if they are 1000 seconds then one centrifuge can handle 2 reactor fuel wise. The reactors can recharge more than they consume.

Yeah, i can respect that attitude on turtles. For most things i build they are the last choice. I am on the fence on them -- most of the things they can do is far and away above their cost, so i don't use them in survival at all. In creative i don't mind looking at 'could be' systems.

GT's advanced regulator is very good and priced reasonably. Also the advanced buffer is good for the single slot fuels.
 

Peppe

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Unfortunately I refuse to use turtles or anything else computercraft adds on principle (I don't even load CC or Miscperipherals). I agree that it can be fun to code programs, but personally I feel it doesn't fit thematically, and more importantly, I want to play Minecraft and not teach a robot to play Minecraft for me :p

So no, no turtles here.

It works well so far even without them. It finished crafting the first quad thorium/single plutonium pair before the plutonium cells in the reactor dropped anwhere near 75%, so the crafting process is way ahead of schedule.

I can provide screenshots tomorrow, but for now, time to move my European butt into bed.

Be cool to see your setup.

I was thinking about trimming that EU/t the system uses you could maybe use some dark cables to shutoff the network until you need it.

Another alternative to buffers/regulator might be routers for each fuel slot and then run several reactors. As you add reactors it becomes more efficient than using buffers, regulators, or even turtles. Once routers have an energy cost i might do this... right now they are little too good doing what they do for free.


Cleaned up my system:
ozARG3b.png


The interface between the two networks.
Blue exports the items on the left. Green imports them, and exports enriched cells.
QGvcr2o.png


Blue centrifuges the enriched cells for thorium/plutonium, which gets transfered to the green network through the export interface.
05yZpUu.png


Green exports the thorium/plutonium/isotopes for input into the reactor (needs any slot cable inventory manager, inventory turtles used here) .
fcgdpJn.jpg


 
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