Nuclear reactor component

A nuclear reactor component can be loosely defined as one of the many devices placed into a Nuclear Reactor or fluid reactor in order to make it work.

Components can be categorized according to their purpose.

Fuel rods

The prime power production device of a reactor; you typically won't be generating any power without one of these. The currently functioning fuel rods (lithium doesn't count) all come in single, dual, and quad varieties.

Description/Attributes	Variants
Uranium fuel rod First nuclear material available. Lifetime: 20,000 reactor ticks (5h 33m 20s continuous operation).	Fuel Rod (Uranium)  Dual Fuel Rod (Uranium)  Quad Fuel Rod (Uranium)
Depleted uranium fuel rod The result of using up all 20K reactor-ticks of fuel in a uranium fuel rod. No energy or heat output; reprocess for valuable plutonium.	Fuel Rod (Depleted Uranium)  Dual Fuel Rod (Depleted Uranium)  Quad Fuel Rod (Depleted Uranium)
MOX fuel rod Combination of uranium and plutonium. Lifetime: 10,000 reactor ticks (2h 46m 40s continuous operation). Increased power output with increased reactor heat (in the fluid reactor, just a flat 2x at >50% base reactor heat).	Fuel Rod (MOX)  Dual Fuel Rod (MOX)  Quad Fuel Rod (MOX)
Depleted MOX fuel rod The result of using up all 10K reactor-ticks of fuel in a MOX fuel rod. No energy or heat output; reprocess for the plutonium used to craft, plus a bit extra.	Fuel Rod (Depleted MOX)  Dual Fuel Rod (Depleted MOX)  Quad Fuel Rod (Depleted MOX)

Neutron reflectors

A special component to make fuel rods more efficient (producing more energy and heat) in the absence of other fuel rods. Every neutron pulse that hits a reflector will be returned to the rod that created it.

As an example, the rod on the left here [] produces the same output as the rod on the left (and on the right) here [].

For each reflected neutron pulse, the Neutron Reflector and Thick Neutron Reflector will lose 1 durability, having 30K and 120K respectively. The Iridium Neutron Reflector, on the other hand, is indestructible no matter how many neutron pulses it reflects - and is appropriately expensive to craft.

Heat vents

The prime method of dumping waste heat into the environs (in the basic reactor) or into your coolant for power generation (in the fluid reactor). Vents can remove heat from themselves (self) or the reactor hull (hull), and have a maximum heat amount they can absorb (max heat) before melting. Note that vents do not automatically absorb heat from adjacent components (other than fuel rods) just from being next to them; it must be transferred to them somehow. (Reactor and Overclocked vents can absorb reactor hull heat regardless of where they are placed, though.)

Vent Type	Self	Hull	Max Heat
Heat Vent	6	0	1000
Advanced Heat Vent	12	0	1000
Reactor Heat Vent	5	5	1000
Overclocked Heat Vent	20	36	1000

There is also a unique heat vent: the Component Heat Vent, which does not absorb heat at all (making it indestructible, unless your reactor explodes and vaporizes it) but instead cools down any adjacent component by 4 heat, providing a maximum of 16 total cooling if surrounded on all sides.

Heat exchangers

The prime method of moving heat around between components. Heat exchangers have a significantly higher ability to absorb heat than heat vents, and attempt to intelligently balance heat on a percentage-of-max-heat basis; if a basic Heat Exchanger (2500 capacity) has 1250 heat to deal with and only the reactor hull (base 10K capacity) to share it with, it will attempt to move heat until it has 250 (10%) and the reactor hull has 1000 (10%). Naturally, as heat continues to move around and is dissipated, percentages change, and so heat exchangers are constantly making adjustments, depending on their rate of transfer to adjacent components (near) and with the reactor hull (hull), as well as their maximum heat capacity (max heat).

Remember, heat exchangers cannot actually dissipate heat. You will need some other method for that.

Vent Type	Near	Hull	Max Heat
Heat Exchanger	12	4	2500
Advanced Heat Exchanger	24	8	10000
Reactor Heat Exchanger	0	72	5000
Component Heat Exchanger	36	0	5000

Cooling cells

Cooling cells store a large amount of heat, compared to heat vents, but they have no inherent self-cooling, requiring the use of heat exchangers to remove their accumulated heat (and vents to dissipate it). A 'damaged' (partially heated) cooling cell cannot be placed in a fluid reactor, unlike vents or exchangers; it must be placed in a basic ('EU mode') reactor and cooled that way.

10K Cooling Cells have a maximum of 10K heat (appropriately), while 30K and 60K versions have 30K and 60K respectively.

Condensators

Similar to cooling cells, condensators can absorb a large amount of heat. However, they remove it instantly, reducing their own durability instead. Because of this, they cannot be 'repaired' by heat removal through the use of heat exchangers; they are only repaired by either crafting with the appropriate item in a crafting table, or through the use of a Reactor Coolant Injector (in RSH or LZH versions, as appropriate) attached to the reactor. Because they require resources to repair, any reactor setup that utilizes condensators may be considered a Single Use Coolant or SUC type.

Notably, condensators will stay at 1 durability instead of being destroyed, allowing them to be repaired instead of losing them.

The RSH-Condensator has 20K durability; Redstone Dust restores 10K.

The LZH-Condensator has 100K durability; Redstone Dust restores 5K, Lapis Lazuli restores 40K, and a Lapis Lazuli Block used by a Reactor Coolant Injector (LZH) restores 75K (with the benefit of not needing to remove the condensator from the reactor, to offset its low efficiency).