Tutorial:Nuclear Power

WARNING

This page is for IC, not IC2. Go here for the IC2 tutorial:

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Nuclear Physics 101

Welcome, to the Industrial Craft School of Nuclear-arity!
Here, we shall give some tips and tricks to avoid turning your new home into a melting slag heap!

Step 1: Finding Uranium Ore

There is no easy way to find Uranium Ore short of mining, mining, mining. It appears randomly in very small veins, and has been seen on the surface at sea level. It also appears rarely in the walls of caverns. It must be mined with an Iron or better Pickaxe, and will drop 1×Uranium for every 1×Ore that is successfully mined.

Step 2: My First Reactor(tm)

The Chernobyl-2 Nuclear Reactor is expensive to build, relying as it does on hard-to-obtain elements like Glowstone and energy-intensive materials like Advanced Alloy Plates. Don't expect to build one in your first week.

Step 3: Finding Your 3-Mile Island

Siting your Nuclear Reactor is crucial! While it can be removed using a Wrench, the possibility of destroying your precious machine in the process makes this a risky proposition. Ideally you'll have a lake or ocean nearby; the Chernobyl-2 works best (and safest) when surrounded by a 3×3 cube of water.

If you don't have v8.00 or higher, you have to use sand or gravel initially to allow you to connect Cable underwater; remember that once placed, a cable is unaffected by water. In v8.00, cables can be placed underwater.

Step 4: Heavy Water

In SMP environs, you may wish to site your reactor somewhere more... secluded. Building a Reactor Containment Vessel will be essential, nothing less than Obsidian, or Reinforced Stone should be used in the construction. Using buckets to place water as you build should allow you to create the necessary cube of water surrounding your Reactor. Use a Reinforced Stone Door for access. Ensure that there is sufficient blast shielding to minimize destruction of property in the case of an accident!

Step 5: The Green Glow

Ok, so now you've got a Reactor suspended in water, with or without cables attached. You've got at least one piece of Uranium Ore. Congratulations, world domination your nuclear future awaits!

Step 6: Cells of Plenty

But, you can't just use raw uranium, you have to Compressor it into shiny new Uranium Fuel Ingots, then shove those ingots into an Empty Cell to make a Uranium Cell! These are the only source of power generation in a Reactor.
Now process the rest of your Uranium Ore into Uranium Cells.
Never mix fuel ingots with TNT in an attempt to make a nuke!

Step 7: The Soothing Hum of Power

So, here is the point of the Nuclear Reactor. By placing 1 more Uranium Cell into the Reactor and surrounding it with Coolant Cells. Each Cell will provide a staggering ONE MILLION EU of Energy, and your Reactor outputs 5 EU/s. That's equivalent to c coal-burning Generator, but the uranium lasts so much longer than coal!!!

Step 8: Holy Fukushima! (with apologies to the easily offended!)

If the proper precautions are taken, a Nuclear explosion can be mostly contained and the damage sustained minimal. In the wrong situation though, a Nuclear disaster can leave you with a pretty impressive hole in the ground where your prized workshop used to be. ALWAYS ensure your reactor has at least 1 square of water surrounding it in every possible direction, and screen it with Obsidian or Reinforced Stone for maximum protection.