New Type Nuclear Reactor

Quote from Ultimoos

Sorry Laamapalmu for posting ideas in your topic, but I think its better to keep everything In one place.
And you can't just keep complaining without actually giving something back, right?

So here is my idea to upgrade what we already have. I remember someone posting a similar GUI some time ago.

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Explanations of what we see:

Nuclear reactors would become a multiblock structure. There would be only one shape of
reactor but there would be many variations of structure blocks.

Reactor structure:

“Reactor Hull” block is standard radiation blocking element, made of copper or lead. It doesn't provide any special functions.

“Out Ring” blocks. Those provide “Out Slots” and come in 3 variations:
“Standard”, cheapest with no effects.
“Upgraded”, increases efficiency of cooling modules.
“Advanced”, greater increase of efficiency for cooling modules and reduces module failure chance.

“Mid Ring” blocks. Those provide “Mid Slots” and come in 3 variations:
“Standard”, cheapest with no effects.
“Cooling”, increases efficiency of cooling modules.
“Neutron”, provides reaction point for fuel cells like neutron reflection modules does.

“In Ring” blocks. This one provides “In Slots” and come in 3 variations:
“Standard”, cheapest with no effects.
“Neutron”, provides reaction point for fuel cells.
“Advanced Neutron”, provides 2 reaction points for fuel cells and reduces module failure chance.

Any ring has to be built with one type of block for reactor to work.

GUI”

“Out Slots”. Those can only be filled with cooling modules.

“Mid Slots”. Those can be filled with both cooling modules and fuel cells.

“In Slots”. Those can only be filled with fuel cells.

Mechanics:

Now to make things more fun. I propose to change heat generated by cells from constant to fluctuation. So a single cell would produce not a constant 10 heat/tick but a random number from 5 to 15. So 50% - 150% /tick. Overall the heat generation would be the same, but this gives a chance for spontaneous heat surges to appear. But it’s just a proposition.

Another fun aspect. Now heat is boring. It does not take any role in normal reactor cycles. You either have a cold reactor or near explosion one with no benefits, only dangers. So I propose to make heat useful. Normal reactor runs at 100% capacity. Let’s increase that by heating it up, for a cost of course.

First of all. You can turn off reactor and remove modules and cells only when reactor is cold. You can’t just take items out from it when whole world is burning around you, right?

Activation of cells and cooling items is performed by right clicking on them in GUI.

When reactor heats up its fuel efficiency also rises. But a chance of module failure appears. But, what happens when module fails? For cooling item like vent it means, it just stops working. A vent failure means that your already hot reactor is getting hotter with every tick. Failure for fuel cells means that you cannot turn it off. So now you have a double problem. Your vent does not cool reactor down and your stuck cell just keeps heating it up. You still have a final solution. An “Emergency cooling cells”. They take a cooling slot but does not take part in normal reactor cycle and are one time use only. This cell will take a lot off heat out of reactor but will disappear when used. And since they take a cooling slot, they can also fail/get stuck and be unusable.

If you let too many modules to fail function, you are doomed with a sure meltdown.

So, you can run this reactor cold at 100% capacity and have it pretty much safe, so you can leave it alone till cycle ends. Or you can heat it up getting more power/steam but also risk module failures, so you have to keep an eye on it.

Sorry, I still think that water should be used only to generate steam when steam reactors are turned on.

If anyone thinks that this idea is worth actual debate, you can ask moderator to move it in to its own topic.

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