Nuclear reactors suggestion

Hi Greg, I’ve had a few ideas for how you could implement nuclear reactors in GT6 in a fun, complex and somewhat realistic way, here’s what I came up with, I hope you’ll like it :smiley:

First, to clear up any confusion, “thermal” and “fast” refer to the speed of the neutrons in the core, not the temperature of the core. Thermal means slow, fast means… fast. After fission, the neutrons are stupid fast, so in thermal reactors they have to be slowed down using moderators (Neutron moderator - Wikipedia).
Due to quantum mechanic reasons, slow neutrons can only hit stuff like U235, U233, Pu239 and Pu241 (aka atoms with an odd number of protons+neutrons), and leave behind radioactive waste (U238, Pu240); fast neutrons can hit any fissile atom and don’t produce waste.

Now for the actual designs, finally:
-Low tech thermal reactor, based on the Light-Water Reactor (Light-water reactor - Wikipedia), which is basically the easiest possible reactor ever.
Made mostly with cheap materials (steel or galvanised steel, invar, lead etc), uses U235 oxide (UO2) as fuel and water as both coolant and moderator. Should only produce low HU/t, maybe just enough to run the invar large boiler.
Outputs HU from the top, and contaminated water from the side/bottom, which has to be processed (probably in the dryer or centrifuge). Radioactive waste and fission products (I’ll let you decide which ones should be produced) accumulate in the core as the fuel is used. Explodes if: internal water tank (input) is empty or calcified, internal contaminated water tank (output) is full, core is full of radioactive waste/fission.
It has a cooldown phase once it’s shut down, meaning that it keeps producing HU/t for a few minutes after it’s turned off. Fuel shouldn’t be able to be added or taken while it’s on or in cooldown.

-High tech thermal reactor, based on the Very High Temperature Reactor (Very-high-temperature reactor - Wikipedia).
Made with expensive materials with high melting point (tungsten, tungsten carbide, iridium etc), uses U235 carbide (UC) as fuel, graphite as moderator and liquid helium as coolant. It should produce an insane amount of HU/t.
Outputs HU from the top, and gaseous helium from the sides, which can be cooled down again (closed system). Excess gaseous helium that backs up in the reactor is vented out (voided). Radioactive waste and fission products accumulate in the core as the fuel is used. HU/t could be controlled by adding or removing graphite, but the reactor explodes if there is too much and doesn’t work if there is too little. Explodes if: internal liquid helium tank (input) is empty, core is full of radioactive waste/fission products, there is too much graphite.
Should have a high cooldown after it’s turned off, fuel and graphite can’t be added or taken once it’s on. The fuel is used very quickly, so it should have a high fuel capacity (and UC is denser than UO2, so it makes sense).

Low tech fast reactor, based on the Sodium-cooled Fast Reactor (Sodium-cooled fast reactor - Wikipedia).
Made with corrosion-proof materials (stainless steel, tungsten), uses U235, U238, plutonium, thorium or even the radioactive waste from the thermal reactors as fuel (either oxides, carbides or nitrides), molten sodium as coolant and no moderators.
Instead of outputting HU directly, since fast reactors are generally more advanced, it should output super-heated sodium that goes into the heat exchanger you recently introduced (low overall HU/t). The heat exchanger should then output either molten sodium or solid sodium (close loop). Only produces fission products in the core, no radioactive waste.
Explodes if: internal molten sodium tank (input) is empty, internal super-heated sodium tank (output) is full.
Automatically shuts down if the core is filled with fission products. Should have a low cool-down period.

High tech fast reactos, based on the Molten Salts Reactor (Molten salt reactor - Wikipedia).
Very similar to the low tech variant, but uses molten lead as coolant and molten Uranium/Thorium fluoride (UF6, ThF4) as fuel. Super-heated lead is outputted and fed to a multiblock heat exchanger to produce HU. Should have the second highest HU/t production of the four reactors.
Can’t explode, if anything goes wrong it shuts down automatically as the fuel is dumped (voided, or turned into solid and ejected, or something similar). Fuel can be added continuously through an input pipe.

I didn’t expect this to get this long, sorry ^^ I’m just really fascinated with nuclear power technology

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Assuming your designs are accurate those are some good thoughts you have there.

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These are very over-simplified versions of the real designs xD I had to do an essay/research project on any scientific topic during my first year of uni, and I did it on new fission reactor designs, so I’m using what I found out back then for this suggestion :smiley:

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Due to Game Design Reasons I will probably use pure Radioactive Materials instead of Molecules like UC or UO2. And I need to find a good way to transport Radioactive Waste Products without letting people void such Products in any way shape or form, so they have to find somewhere to store that shit. I am thinking of some sort of “Drum looking Output Block that can be pushed by Piston but is unbreakable”.

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nuclear waste is normally stored in concrete structures or solidified into glass, I’m sure @Xenon would know more about it.

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Wait but what are the huge Drums outside of Nuclear Reactors storing then? And doesn’t that Stuff produce Gas due to decay and therefore needs to be sealed? And the final waste is gonna be stored in some Cave usually.

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From what I remember, nuclear waste is liquid (has a lot of water in it), and is usually stored in stainless steel drums that are then covered in concrete and buried. Problem is that eventually due to corrosion and the radioactivity of the waste, the drum and concrete can crack, spilling the waste.
There is a way of vitrifying the waste by reacting it with sugar and some other stuff, that takes away all the water and reduces the problem of spilling, but also makes the waste denser.

Also, to avoid the problem of players voiding the waste, you could make special pipes/drums/tanks that can’t be connected or inserted in the ender garbage.

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Yep they hold irradiated water that passes through the reactor. The vitrification is the glass I was thinking of. They turn it into long black glass rods that are stored underground in special rooms.

I think there is a fair amount of radioactive solid material from reactor parts that become too irradiated and need to be replaced.

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In my essay I mostly looked at fast reactors, so waste is the part I’m less familiar with u.u"
Water is the worst, it works as a moderator and coolant and is used to turn the turbines directly so it looks like the best choice, but it has a relatively high chance of absorbing neutrons instead of slowing them down, becoming radioactive and removing them from the chain reaction =/

EDIT: Anyway, excluding the anti-cheating problem with the waste, do you think something similar to what I proposed could be implemented?

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Speaking of radioactive materials, what happened to cobalt-60 being a byproduct from washing copper?
I used to ‘love’ being afraid of copper. :laughing:

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For what I know there is no cobalt-60 in nature because it decays in an Ni atom in just 5 years or so. So it makes no sense to get cobalt-60 washing copper.

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Ha yeah it’s artificially created as far as I know. I just remember the first time I picked some up while washing copper and got the fright of my life.

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Yes I remember that as well :joy:

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Greg, how hard would it be for you to make it so certain items or fluids can’t be voided in the ender garbage bin (and make it so they don’t despawn, don’t burn in lava/fire, don’t get killed by cacti etc)?

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Pretty much impossible, it’s that hard. I would need to take control over every single pipe containing radioactive waste and disable all interconnections with not only other Mods but also the aforementioned Garbage Bin, not to mention I need to make all Pipes indestructible as soon as Radioactive Waste enters them.

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What if you make it so only special pipes/containers (made of lead and concrete, or something like that) can contain the radioactive waste, and make it so the actual item/fluid never exists in world outside of them?
Then you’d only need to make those pipes/containers indestructable

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It doesn’t need to be a liquid per say. Perhaps the reactor becomes ‘contaminated’ much like how a boiler gets calcified and requires a cleaning tool, that tool would then need to be probably treated, and the cleaning process would be cheaper than disposing of it and building a new one?

Or a container that fills via percentage over time, again cleaning the container designed to be cheaper than disposing of the container and building a new one?

If you can’t stop someone voiding the waste, you need to provide an incentive to discourage the behavior.

EDIT

Perhaps, and I’m just saying this without considering the sizable coding it might take, but you could work in a process similar to how swamp water takes over normal water. That the reactor needs to be connected to a river or ocean and would contaminate the river/ocean over time. I say river rather than a water source as you seem to have methods in place to check if it is a river/ocean or not.

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Only problem is, only the oldest designs irl use water

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Good point, but aside from the river idea the other methods could work, you just need to make sure the construction of the container and container cleaner is more cost efficient than rebuilding the container by a high margin.

It’s like a wrench, sure I could make a new one but it’s more cost efficient and somewhat easier to use a few plates.

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The fuck what? The only reasons Nuclear Power Plants are at Rivers is because they need lots of Water that gets evaporated in the Cooling Towers. There is no Pollution dumping into Rivers, what kinda Environmental Monsters are you? XD

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