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Factorio BlueprintsAll nuclear reactor blueprintsTileable Self-Throttling Belt-Fed Nuclear Reactor Row Blueprint

Tileable Self-Throttling Belt-Fed Nuclear Reactor Row Blueprint

A control row plus four-reactor rows you add one at a time; the book includes a five-row extension worth 3,040 MW. Fuel arrives on a belt.

Image of the Brian White Tileable Row nuclear plant blueprint

Image of the Brian White Tileable Row nuclear plant blueprint

How much power does it make? 4 reactors, 480 MW

480 MWOutput (computed)

Reactors4Heat exchangers64Steam turbines106
Reactors
4
Output (computed)
480 MW
Heat exchangers
64
Steam turbines
106
Reactors : exchangers : turbines
4 reactors : 64 heat exchangers : 106 steam turbines
Fuel handling
belt-fedFuel cells arrive on a belt and inserters load them.
Size (tiles, width x height)
374 x 25
Entity quality
normal
String exported by Factorio
2.0.28.1
Designer
Brian White

String exported by Factorio 2.0.28.1. Decoded and checked by this site; not test-imported in the game.

Output (computed)

The output shown is computed by this site from the blueprint itself, using normal-quality numbers from the official wiki. Each reactor makes 40 MW of heat plus another 40 MW for every fuelled reactor touching it, which is why a 2x2 block gives 480 MW and a long double row gives 160 MW per reactor minus 160 MW. A heat exchanger turns at most 10 MW of heat into steam and a steam turbine turns that steam into 5.82 MW, so the plant delivers whichever of the three totals is smallest: reactor heat, exchanger capacity or turbine capacity.

Heat exchanger and turbine ratio

A plant is balanced when its exchangers can take all the reactor heat and its turbines can use all the steam. With normal-quality buildings that is one heat exchanger for every 10 MW of heat and about 1.72 turbines per exchanger, because one exchanger makes roughly 103 steam per second and one turbine uses 60. Compare this plant's counts with that: more turbines than needed is harmless, but too few exchangers caps the output.

How fuel cells get in

Fuel cells come in on a belt and inserters load each reactor, so the plant runs without robots; feed the belt from your fuel-cell production and take spent cells out. A fuel cell burns for 200 seconds whether or not the power is used, so belt-fed designs that save fuel use circuit conditions on the inserters to load only when a reactor runs cool.

This is a 2.0 update of an older forum design, reworked so its pumps also fit when water is filled by a mod that places tiles less exactly than landfill; the mod is optional. The reactors throttle themselves, only taking fuel when the heat is needed.

Source
Output stated in the post
10,000 MW

Other plants in this blueprint book

The book holds a single extra reactor row (4 reactors, 480 MW), a block of five rows (20 reactors, 3,040 MW) and concrete versions of the control and reactor rows. Paste rows under the control row to grow the plant.

+1 Reactor Row

Heat exchangers
64
Steam turbines
108
Size (tiles, width x height)
374 x 12

+5 Reactor Rows

Heat exchangers
320
Steam turbines
538
Size (tiles, width x height)
374 x 52

Reactor Control Concrete

Heat exchangers
0
Steam turbines
0
Size (tiles, width x height)
18 x 12

Reactor Row Concrete

Heat exchangers
0
Steam turbines
0
Size (tiles, width x height)
18 x 12

Blueprint string

Copy the string and press Import string on the shortcut bar in the game, then paste. It was exported from the Factorio 2.0 version shown above. This site decoded it and counted the reactors, exchangers and turbines, but did not import it in the game; check the designer's notes above for water and start-up needs.

All nuclear reactor blueprints