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Factorio BlueprintsAll nuclear reactor blueprintsmgabor's Ultimate Reactor Blueprint Book: Start with One Reactor

mgabor's Ultimate Reactor Blueprint Book: Start with One Reactor

A single-reactor starter from a book designed to grow in place to two, four and more reactors.

Image of the mgabor Ultimate Reactor Book nuclear plant blueprint

Image of the mgabor Ultimate Reactor Book nuclear plant blueprint

How much power does it make? 1 reactors, 40 MW

40 MWOutput (computed)

Reactors1Heat exchangers4Steam turbines7
Reactors
1
Output (computed)
40 MW
Heat exchangers
4
Steam turbines
7
Reactors : exchangers : turbines
1 reactors : 4 heat exchangers : 7 steam turbines
Fuel handling
belt-fedFuel cells arrive on a belt and inserters load them.
Size (tiles, width x height)
279 x 18
Entity quality
normal
String exported by Factorio
2.0.43.3
Designer
mgabor

String exported by Factorio 2.0.43.3. 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.

Place as few as one reactor first, then lay the next blueprints over it as in-place upgrades; from four reactors on, paste the tileable piece underneath as often as needed.

Other plants in this blueprint book

The book holds a 2-reactor starter (160 MW), the first 4 reactors (480 MW) and an extra tileable set of 4 reactors (480 MW each time you add it).

2 Reactor Starter

Heat exchangers
16
Steam turbines
28
Size (tiles, width x height)
279 x 18

First 4 (Top) Reactors

Heat exchangers
48
Steam turbines
83
Size (tiles, width x height)
279 x 18

Additional 4 Tileable Reactors

Heat exchangers
64
Steam turbines
110
Size (tiles, width x height)
280 x 13

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