Ideas for a Nuclear Version 2.0

[ChukerSweet]

Hi there!

Obj: Diversify current Nuclear build into two specialized branches. All links here are just for the inspiration/explication of the real-life counter parts.

Current state: Great! But can be improved? There's only one type of nuclear reactor which requires enriched fuel. This is a PWR-ish technology (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pressurized_water_reactor).

Proposal: Add a CANDU-ish type of reactor ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CANDU_reactor ) and increase diversification among them.

CANDU keywords: fast, simple, easy, cheaper, PRACTICAL

****************FUEL******************
* CANDU fuel uses natural proportion of U235/238, thus easier to get started. (*1)
* CANDU fuel uses metal (as current)
* CANDU's depleted fuel comming out from the reactor contains more U235 than the fresh fuel originally used. (As real CANDU produce a good quantity of Plutonium which has been condensed in the game in the U235. http://www.joint-project.org/upload/fil ... actors.pdf). Thus, it helps to get Nuclear started.

***************REACTOR*************
* CANDU reactor uses metal instead of steel thus cheaper to build(Their real-life counter-parts require no pressure vessel)
* CANDU required heavy water. This is done by A NEW 'heavy water enrichment process', could can be done at the centrifuge building, no special new building is required. The catch though is that it requires VERY big amounts of water for producing enriched heavy water. So even if water is readily available, there has to be a logistic challenge in pumps/pipes for the required input. 'A lot' of heavy water is required for the reactor to operate.

This adds a new twist of having to process water which is infinite, and producing very little of a highly valuable liquid that must not get lost or mixed. Any contamination of heavy water with any other liquid destroys the heavy water (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heavy_water).

* Heavy water can be consumed at the slowest rate possible (thus the reactor uses nuclear fuel and heavy water to operate), or a certain (big) amount is needed only once for building the reactor.
* CANDU reactors produce half the energy that PWR reactor (as their real-life counterparts).
* CANDU reactor pollute (emulating the fact that they required many fuel elements which in real life accumulate as nuclear waste 1.5 depleted fuel per day in a standard 600MWe CANDU NPP)
* CANDU reactor instantly gets started when fuel (and heavy water) is in and burns the fuel/produces power instantly. (as the online refueling of an actual CANDU, and high theorethical availability factor http://www.nuclearfaq.ca/cnf_sectionA.htm#e2)
*Size 6*6 (Calandria of the CANDU has to be bigger as the moderating power of D2O is less than H2O , and less neutronic leakage can be supported due to low enrichment http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCL ... 655376.pdf)
* No neighbouring bonus (standard 600MWe CANDU reactor has no multy-loop design)

**************MELTDOWN************ ( IF meltdown is included in the game)
* However is implemented, is worst in the CANDU, due to their positive feedback coefficient (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/a ... 3315300425). Meltdown happens when the heat exchanger is without water.
* IF Factorio's dev have no fear of hurting Canadian feelings and doing some inaccuracies, CANDU-game reactor concept could be fusioned with the RBMK (http://www.world-nuclear.org/informatio ... ctors.aspx) thus having no 'contention building' making the results of meltdown even worse, and the reactor even cheaper to build, less or no concrete for example )
* In front of a Meltdown situation (no steam for sustained time), the reactor can be shut off by taking out the fuel.
* There is no meltdown if destroy by biters.



*******************************************************************************************************************************************************************************
PWR reactor (modified version of current). Keywords: expensive to make, more techy, fuels last much longer, complex, POWERFULL

****************FUEL******************
* Uses enriched fuel and depleted fuel has no 235 (as currently)
* Fuel uses steel and metal to manufacture as to being more expensive and complicated to make (as their real-life counterpart).
* Manufacture time of PWR fuel 10X of the CANDU fuel

***************REACTOR*************
* PWR has shutdown mechanic (as their real life counter parts):
PWR reactors require about 20 fuels in place to get started. (*2)
Once all the required fuels are in place, the reactor heats up, this require 'a lot' of time
The fuel is innacesable in operation. They burn slowly.
When all the fuel batch is depleted, the reactor has to get down to ambiance temperature, this also requires 'a lot' of time

'a lot' in real life is 1.5/12 (month and a half for a year operation). So, 1.5/12 of the total time fuel lasts in reactor may do.
So, a PWR grid will have to deal with strong variations of power, or use the network to assure a good refueling timing, this introduced depth.
* PWR have minimum pollution
* Size 5*5 (current)
* Neighbouring bonus (current)

**************MELTDOWN************ (if included in the game)
* If PWR suffers a heat exchanger induced meltdown is contained due to the contention building (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Mil ... d_accident)
* A meltdown cannot be prevented by taking out the fuel, it is inaccesable when the reactor is operating.
* However, unlike CANDU, if it gets destroy (by biters) is does suffer from the standard-CANDU explosive meltdown (due to operating at high pressure in single a vessel (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reactor_pressure_vessel))

Common features:
New decommissioning mechanic (https://www.nei.org/Master-Document-Fol ... Facilities)
* Removing a reactor takes 'a lot' of time and can only be done by robots (decommissioning)
* Both reactor use the same standard steam engine system for producing actual energy. (current)

New technologies:
for CANDU:
* 'thorium advanced fuel': Increased U235 production in depleted fuel (as to sustain a reactor fleet with no enrichment whatsoever) (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thorium-b ... lear_power)

* 'Atucha fuel cycle': permits an advanced fuel cycle in which the proportion of enriched fuel goes from 1/20 to 2/20, increasing power by 30 % ( As Argentinians did in their power plant Atucha 1, and want to do in Atucha 2, which are all heavy water reactors http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCL ... 024331.pdf)
(if meltdown is implemented *'Emergency Calandria Override': The meltdown is stopped and the reactor saved by expelling all heavy water. Heavy water is lost.

for PWR:
*'Gadolinium fuel rods': Doubles the time it takes to burn the same amount of fuel, thus making the reactor use less fuel, and basically cutting of the indisponibility factor by half (https://www.intechopen.com/books/curren ... reactivity).

(if meltdown is implemented * 'Mark 1 venting system': The meltdown is stopped and the reactor saved by venting the pressure of the main loop. Very high local pollution is produced. There is some dark humor, as the Mark 1 was the BWR reactor type that failed at Fukushima, realising radioactive isotopes and quenching the reactor pressure (http://files.gereports.com/wp-content/u ... -Paper.pdf))

End-game situation:
Spent fuel from PWR into CANDU. Spent fuel from CANDU into PWR. Covarex costs increased as to be use only when going for nuclear wepondry.

(*1) One way of doing this could be having 1/20 fuels being current nuclear fuel (i.e. of 235) and the rest current depleted fuel (i.e. 238). The beauty of this is being able to put PWR spend fuel in CANDU reactor (http://www.iaea.org/inis/collection/NCL ... 013478.pdf). IDK however, if this would mess up current mechanics.

(*2) PWR amout of fuel should be abour 1/3 of the amout of CANDU fuels needed to operate.


Well, sorry for the semi-long post. Love the game, love mega bases. Hope this may be of any interest. Later I will try to comment another proporsal on end-game mechanics for the biters.