nuclear reactor vs matter fabricator

[kk258966]

is there any ways to use nuclear reactor safe and output eu/t higher?
i'm using solar panel to run my matter fabricator right now
but it doesn't give much eu

i'm not really good at english so it's not an easy job for me to understand
how it all works or what people are talking about

can somebody help me on this problem?ore is there any ways to power matter fabricator more faster and efficintly

 

[Guswut]

is there any ways to power matter fabricator more faster and efficintly

Yes, there is. You can build the more expensive type of solar panels, set up a nuclear reactor (for design help on this, you should review this: http://forum.industrial-craft.net/i...81&s=d72447850bd3a7ebe4504b95c66051aca0de13e9), build a boiler system to make steam so you can use steam turbines, or use a boiler to make lava out of cobblestone so you can use that lava in thermal generators.

You can make EU a LOT of different ways, and doing all of them is likely the best way to make loads of EU. At least until you start making enough UU matter to producing hybrid solar panels like it is going out of style.

 

[KirinDave]

At least until you start making enough UU matter to producing hybrid solar panels like it is going out of style.

So sad. Just stick with nuclear.

 

[Guswut]

So sad. Just stick with nuclear.

Why? Does nuclear give me a better output of power for the materials used? The answer is, of course, "no!" as solar panels are a constant power source which are fairly expensive. Nuclear is good near the end of the start of the game, and the middle of the game, but around the end of the middle of the game it is not as good as solar arrays.

Some people think it is unbalanced that solar panels are able to produce so much power for such a "small" cost. That is how it works, though. I could see them requiring a bit of upkeep, as solar panels in the offline world don't usually last longer than twenty years, but you'd have to nerf them greatly to make other power sources as logical before you get a fusion reactor (and then you are just nerfing to make the "playing field" level, which is a bad reason to nerf as it just increases the artificial difficulty level).

That said, I really want to make a nuclear reactor as I have yet to play with it more than storing 1,500 uranium ore in a bucket (for whatever that counts) as it looks like an amusing and interesting way to make power.

But it is surely not the better way to make power.

 

[purplefantum]

Nuclear reactors are one of the worst EU sources in the game if you balance material cost against EU. The sheer amount of copper it takes alone is insane, and more each time you need to make more dual or quad uranium if you use them. A line of 5 geothermals run at 100 EU, same as a steam turbine which is silly expensive on steel, and just under what a 'cheap' nuclear reactor can run safely at.

 

[Guswut]

Nuclear reactors are one of the worst EU sources in the game if you balance material cost against EU. The sheer amount of copper it takes alone is insane, and more each time you need to make more dual or quad uranium if you use them. A line of 5 geothermals run at 100 EU, same as a steam turbine which is silly expensive on steel, and just under what a 'cheap' nuclear reactor can run safely at.

But you are not going to need radiation shielding, a hazmat suit, and if you are smart a bit of distance between you and your thermal (unless you are using DireWolf20/disabled GregTech, you should be using THERMAL generators, as geothermal generators require an IC2 pump to make as much power) generators, nor will you have to deal with the possibility of your thermal generators exploding.

Which, when I read it back, sounds like a BAD thing, hahah.

 

[Scaffolding]

Wall of text quote about nuclear power inside.

Spoiler

You're right: There are much easier ways to get high EU per tick than nuclear reactors. But, with very few exceptions, nuclear reactors are the best way to get high EU per fuel.

1 bucket of BC fuel in diesel generator (ignoring cost of refining): 384,000 EU

1 bucket BC fuel in RC steam boiler (assuming max boiler size and max temperature, ignoring cost of refining): 1,363,636 EU

1 refined uranium ingot in max efficiency nuclear system: 86,509,629 EU
Step 1: Make 8 near-depleted uranium cells
Step 2: Put them in a breeder (after applying 8 coal dust) to make 8 re-enriched uranium cells
Step 3: Put the re-enriched cells in an Industrial Centrifuge to make 3 near-depleted cells, 1 plutonium cell, and 4 thorium cells
Step 4: Put the 3 near-depleted cells back in the breeder (after applying 3 more coal dust) to make 3 re-enriched uranium cells
Step 5: Take those re-enriched cells and keep repeating steps 3 and 4. This will obviously not work if you only have 3 cells; I'm assuming you're doing this on a fairly large scale (e.g., if you start with 10 refined uranium, you'll have 80 cells in Step 3 and 30 cells in Step 5). Basically, every time you repeat the process, you get 3/8 of your re-enriched cells back:

8 + 3 + 1.125 + .421875 + .158203125 + ... approaches a limit of 12.8 cells. This means, for every refined uranium you put into the system, you get 1.6 plutonium cells and 6.4 thorium cells.

Step 6: Put those 1.6 plutonium and 6.4 thorium into Efficiency 7 (EA*) reactors (quad cell surrounded by iridium neutronreflectors, with cooling vents, etc.). These are the most fuel-efficient reactors possible. The thorium variety is fairly easy to build, and there are a bunch of different designs. The plutonium variety requires a mod like Nuclear Control to keep it from overheating; it's going to be Mark V no matter what you do, so you have to run it for a minute, then turn it off for a minute, etc. An Efficiency 7 thorium reactor generates 7,000,000 EU per thorium. An Efficiency 7 plutonium reactor generates 28,000,000 EU per plutonium.

28,000,000 * 1.6 = 44,800,000
7,000,000 * 6.4 = 44,800,000
Subtotal = 89,600,000.

Subtract the cost of centrifuging 12.8 re-enriched uranium cells. It costs 100,000 EU to centrifuge 8, so it costs 160,000 EU to centrifuge 12.8.

Subtotal = 89,440,000

Subtract the 800 EU it costs to compress the uranium in the first place:

Subtotal = 89,439,200

Finally, you'll need 25.6 coal dust to breed/enrich 12.8 cells. Subtract the cost to macerate 25.6 coal into dust: 20,480 EU. Also subtract the opportunity cost of not using that coal for something else (best use is coal coke + creosote in RC boilers): 2,909,091 EU

Total = 86,509,629 EU

This ignores the small amount of energy you generate from breeding. It also ignores the fact that you need one uranium cell to run the breeder. But overall, this is pretty close to what you can get from a single uranium, if you take the time to set up a good system for it. It doesn't generate a huge amount of EU per tick, but it does last a very long time.

 

[Guswut]

Wall of text quote about nuclear power inside.

Spoiler

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And what you have missed, though, is that solar panels produce technically unlimited EU per "fuel", in that after you make them, they will produce power forever. So 86,509,629 EU total EU is less than ∞ EU over the course of the life of the entire system given an unlimited lifetime.

 

[Scaffolding]

Guswut I didn't miss it, I just made the mistake of thinking that it wasn't relevant to mention that some people avoid using solar panels. Obviously this won't work for the OP but my post was more of a response to purplefantum's post. Just don't want people to think going nuclear is a completely terrible solution to power.

 

[Guswut]

Guswut I didn't miss it, I just made the mistake of thinking that it wasn't relevant to mention that some people avoid using solar panels. Obviously this won't work for the OP but my post was more of a response to purplefantum's post. Just don't want people to think going nuclear is a completely terrible solution to power.

Ah, in that case, yes: Nuclear power is an extremely useful power source if you want to invest the resources, and aren't looking for the optimal solution which is solar panels.

And, really now, nuclear power is fun. Solar panels are boring, just sitting there devouring solar radiation. Nuclear power, on the other hand, can EXPLODE! My personal policy is that things that can explode are more fun. It's a policy I think we should look into standardizing around the world.

 

[KirinDave]

And what you have missed, though, is that solar panels produce technically unlimited EU per "fuel", in that after you make them, they will produce power forever.

No one plays forever, though. Further, no one wants to sit around waiting for solar to recharge something. So by your metric a combo forestry biofuel system feeding a boiler set which feeds turbines is vastly superior to a solar farm that can do equivalent things. The startup cost for those systems is really quite low compared to array costs in GregTech land. The idea that solar is "optimal" also ignores the crushing cost to your server as they stack up."

And it's not hard to have a stable nuclear system that pulses outputting max EU/t over a fairly long lifespan with a lot of efficiency. This amortizes out to a fairly modest eu/t, but it should still exceed the uses of anything up until a fusion reactor kicks off.

 

[purplefantum]

I was talking none gregtech. And I do agree solar panels are boring, but plain nuclear reactors are still a poor choice, if I was going gregtech high end, i'd probably got for a lightning rod, that seems alot more fun and has a HUGE amount of EU income when it does work.

 

[KirinDave]

I was talking none gregtech. And I do agree solar panels are boring, but plain nuclear reactors are still a poor choice, if I was going gregtech high end, i'd probably got for a lightning rod, that seems alot more fun and has a HUGE amount of EU income when it does work.

Gregtech lightning rods are insanely laggy. Do not make many.

They also are pretty inconsistent. You need a mystcraft age with constant thunderstorms to make it work well and that's no longer trivial.

 

[purplefantum]

From what I've seen, one will make 1.5 UU matter per lightning strike, I don't see much use for more than that. Obviously i'd suppliment it with a secondary constant EU source. But it does bring to mind the evil mad scientist vibe, now all I need is to create a flesh golem from thaumcraft 3 with it, mwa ha ha ha.

 

[KirinDave]

From what I've seen, one will make 1.5 UU matter per lightning strike, I don't see much use for more than that.

Fusion reactors, naturally. If you're going GregTech, go big or go home.

 

[Guswut]

No one plays forever, though. Further, no one wants to sit around waiting for solar to recharge something. So by your metric a combo forestry biofuel system feeding a boiler set which feeds turbines is vastly superior to a solar farm that can do equivalent things. The startup cost for those systems is really quite low compared to array costs in GregTech land. The idea that solar is "optimal" also ignores the crushing cost to your server as they stack up."

Sugarcane for biofuel to boiler to turbine, but I'm thinking of switching to cobble-gen -> magma-gen -> thermal generator, but at this point I am making enough UU matter that I am making ultimate panels every few days so it is less of an issue for me.

And "crushing cost to your server"? Can you please define that a bit better, as I have yet to see any problems with them, yet, and I've got a field of advanced panels waiting to be converted. Perhaps you are used to underpowered servers?

And it's not hard to have a stable nuclear system that pulses outputting max EU/t over a fairly long lifespan with a lot of efficiency. This amortizes out to a fairly modest eu/t, but it should still exceed the uses of anything up until a fusion reactor kicks off.

Indeed, except that the amount of effort to get into nuclear power is higher than building solar panels, although this is subjective as I have yet to do anything with nuclear power, so I'm sure I'll have a moment where it makes more sense to go nuclear earlier in the game and instead of "because I can", but that moment is not now.

Gregtech lightning rods are insanely laggy. Do not make many any.

Fixed, for the sake of the amount of lag I noticed when I had a 255 block tall lightning rod. Those things are horrible.

Fusion reactors, naturally. If you're going GregTech, go big or go home.

Liked and quoted for "truth", as they say. Fusion reactors are pretty much the endgoal of a GregTech world, as they are self-sustaining and only require a bit of forethought to be able to run forever. They are the upgraded version of the ultimate solar hybrid panel, and cost it.

 

[purplefantum]

Fusion is so last millenium, can I have a blackhole generator?

 

[KirinDave]

And "crushing cost to your server"? Can you please define that a bit better, as I have yet to see any problems with them, yet, and I've got a field of advanced panels waiting to be converted. Perhaps you are used to underpowered servers?

People tend to have big fields of the damn things ticking away constantly. Since their output is random it consumes entropy in the JVM, which can lead to big slowdowns unless people anticipate it and make the entropy pool much larger and manually poke it along. AFAIK, no minecraft mods do this. The result is that big fields of solars can have big costs.

And no, my server is anything but underpowered. But lots of people use things like minefold and those can be crippled by just a few 16x16 solar fields.

Indeed, except that the amount of effort to get into nuclear power is higher than building solar panels, although this is subjective as I have yet to do anything with nuclear power, so I'm sure I'll have a moment where it makes more sense to go nuclear earlier in the game and instead of "because I can", but that moment is not now.

A wise man once told me something about the subject of modest difficulty.

 

[Guswut]

People tend to have big fields of the damn things ticking away constantly. Since their output is random it consumes entropy in the JVM, which can lead to big slowdowns unless people anticipate it and make the entropy pool much larger and manually poke it along. AFAIK, no minecraft mods do this. The result is that big fields of solars can have big costs.

And no, my server is anything but underpowered. But lots of people use things like minefold and those can be crippled by just a few 16x16 solar fields.

Ah, I don't have over 16x16 panels in total (and advance are being converted into hybrid, so the issue is flat in that regard), and I don't have enough users that this should ever been an issue. Good to know, though!

A wise man once told me something about the subject of modest difficulty.

From what I've read, it isn't difficult at all. It is like Thaumcraft, bees, and other aspects of the FTB MindCrack pack that I have yet to tap, and just something that I'm going to do "someday". And when I add MPS, AE, the new MystCraft system, and whatever other mods I keep thinking (XR maybe, etc), well, yeah.

The issue is not hardening like a metapod, but having more time free to do more things. On the bright side, whenever I get around to starting a new world for my userbase, we'll all be trying new things, and if I have not done nuclear by then, I'll surely think about it for more than five seconds at that point!

 

[DoctorOr]

The startup cost for those systems is really quite low compared to array costs in GregTech land.

I presume you're implying the cost for 64 base solar generators necessary for an HV array. Except, of course, no FTB pack has both Compact Solars and GregTech.

Even if they did though, GregTech base solar is not significantly more cost than a base solar in IC2. It just has a technological hurdle that must be passed. Once that hurdle is passed, it's trivial to churn out base solar panels without end.

A HV Compact Solar array with GregTech is still cheaper than an Ultimate Hybrid Solar panel.