When can I (safely) start with nuclear power?

[JasonCurnow]

I'm glad you found it useful..

I tend to not mess with smart reactors, to be honest. The first one, maybe, but by the time you get a bunch of reactors going, you're probably going to need most of the power all the time.

And remember - Launching your first rocket is JUST the beginning! There's a lot more research that requires space science and then you start to get into planning on how to make it bigger! Big rail networks, distributing building of components and resources across the map, etc. That's where the fun is for me. That first rocket on a base is always special, but the 10,000th or even 100,000th rocket is very, very cool.

[JimBarracus]

I tend to not mess with smart reactors, to be honest. The first one, maybe, but by the time you get a bunch of reactors going, you're probably going to need most of the power all the time.

I currently have 6 smart reactors running (2x1 and 2x2) and I dont even have kovarex running.
The next plant would be another 2x2 so the jump in power production is relativly large and would create a lot of wasted heat.

I work with a lot of accumulators in order to buffer the overproduction.
Not a single second of burned uranium is wasted.

[NotRexButCaesar]

I work with a lot of accumulators in order to buffer the overproduction.
Not a single second of burned uranium is wasted.

Is there a reason you use accumulators rather than steam tanks? One steam tank at 500 degrees is something like 100+ accumulators if I am remembering correctly.

[gGeorg]

I work with a lot of accumulators in order to buffer the overproduction.
Not a single second of burned uranium is wasted.

Is there a reason you use accumulators rather than steam tanks? One steam tank at 500 degrees is something like 100+ accumulators if I am remembering correctly.

1 steam storage = 150 batteries precisely
Check my perfect power plant
viewtopic.php?f=208&t=96233
Iit might suit your growing need.
dont fall into common spread myth that (Tesla) batteries are good for energy storage. It is fake info and also it doesn't work in the game.

[JimBarracus]

Is there a reason you use accumulators rather than steam tanks? One steam tank at 500 degrees is something like 100+ accumulators if I am remembering correctly.

I prefer to let the turbines run at full throttle.
So the reactor stays cool and steam doesnt pile up.
I also keep using solar, accumulators also prevent flickering lights. Solar was my intermediate solution to reduce coal usage.
There is only one central power managment and it uses the accumulator charge state as a reference.
Nuclear power is also controlled by this and is actually hooked up to the emergency backup.
It kicks in when the charge drops below 10%.

I also neglected solar for a while so its not capable to power the factory decently.
So the backup plan sneaked its way up to be the main power source.

[gGeorg]

I also keep using solar, accumulators also prevent flickering lights.

Flickering lights is most probably reason of missing SR latch on the power plant connection.

[JimBarracus]

Flickering lights is most probably reason of missing SR latch on the power plant connection.

I mean the flickering when the lasers start to fight off biters.
Every accumulator can provide 300kW and I have thousands of them.
Lasers need a lot of power, but only for a very short time.

[gGeorg]

Flickering lights is most probably reason of missing SR latch on the power plant connection.

I mean the flickering when the lasers start to fight off biters.
Every accumulator can provide 300kW and I have thousands of them.
Lasers need a lot of power, but only for a very short time.

- 150 batteries cost 1080iron 750copper , and heap of sulphur, and 600 tiles of space
- 6 turbines and one steam storage cost 665iron 300copper gives peak output and energy storage equals to 150bateries, but it takes 99 tiles of space


Batries are only for solar as emergency help thru night.
For energy storage or peak power, there are better ways.
You should realy check my losseless powerplant, link in an previous post.

[Laie]

Get noticed, there is an info by small letters down there, in the https://factoriocheatsheet.com/ that those numbers of storage tanks are "without the thermal capacity of other parts. " Sounds like something minor, but is not.

Let me thank you for that bit of information -- and if i already said thanks, I'll do it again

I wasn't aware of just how much heat capacity there is and without your hint, i probably wouldn't have paid attention, either -- though now that I know, it's patently obvious.

[Bauer]

If you just want to launch a rocket into space, you don't need nuclear power at all. See the speed runners as a reference for a high power demand in this case.

If you want to go beyond this point, I recommend to start nuclear just then by starting the kovarex process.
After having all but space research set up, I start mining uran. While U235 is accumulating for the kovarex process, I build 8 belts of Fe and Cu plates each plus half a red belt of steel (all with steel furnaces), and also enough oil to make 3-4 belts of plastics. Convert this into belts, inserters, green, red and blue chips (into modules), furnaces, miners, train stuff, etc. to start building a real factory. By the time I'm ready to build the first beaconed smelter with mk3 modules, I find that steam power is not powerful enough. Solar consumes a lot of resources for the initial investment. In the long run, it's way more UPS friendly, but to get going, nuclear is the easier choice. 4-8 reactors provide A LOT of energy at this stage.