Improving uranium reactor

[QViry]

The uranium direction of the addon imitates the real process of uranium enrichment. Cycle is not completed. There is a lot of waste. In the real cycle, the tails are processed in plutonium, which is also used as nuclear fuel. In this case, the total amount of fuel becomes greater. For simplicity, you can add slots to the reactor to load the tails in the form of U0.0% blocks and unload when stopping the reactor Blocks U0.8%

[cx384]

I really like the idea of a proper nuclear fuel cycle, so did some research and came up with a rough concept. I'm not a nuclear scientist, and it is not supposed to be completely realistic, since fun is more important for a game. However, I tried to base it on reality as much as possible, so it also should be somewhat educational.

This is what I think the cycle should look like, please tell me what you think: (The numbers placed in front are the ratios.)

Uranium processing (this is what we already have):

• 1 Natural Uranium (0.7%-Fissile Uranium)
• -> Centrifuges ->
• 1/5 3.5%-Fissile Uranium (3,5% U-235, 96,5% U-238)
• 4/5 0.0%-Fissile Uranium

Uranium Fuel:

• 5 3.5%-Fissile Uranium
• -> Compressor ->
• 1 Uranium Fuel
• -> Nuclear Reactor ->
• 1 Spent Nuclear Fuel
• -> Nuclear Reprocessing Plant -> It could just be a HV machine (PUREX is the most common method)
• 4 1.0%-Fissile Uranium
• 1 65%-Fissile Plutonium Pallet (a pallet representing 1/20 of a ingot)
• 1 Nuclear Waste (useless fission products) (ignoring the < 0.1% amount of Np Am and Cm) (65%-Fissile Plutonium is a simplification, the fissile isotope are mostly Pu-239 and non-fissile Pu-240) (One 3.5%-Fissile Uranium becomes 4/5 1.0%-Fissile Uranium and 1/100 Plutonium) (4/5 * 1/3.5 = 22,86% reusable uranium and 1/7 =14,29% reusability from Plutonium)

MOX Fuel:

• 5 0.0%-Fissile Uranium
• 7 65%-Fissile Plutonium Pallet
• -> Alloy Furnace ->
• 1 MOX Fuel
• -> Nuclear Reactor ->
• 1 Spent MOX Fuel
• -> Nuclear Reprocessing Plant ->
• 4 0.0%-Fissile Uranium
• 5 55%-Fissile Plutonium Pallet (55% is relatively high since it is made to be like the uranium fuel.)
• 1 Nuclear Waste (55/65 * 5/7 = 60,44% Plutonium can be reused)

Plutonium Reprocessing (55%-Fissile Plutonium -> 65%-Fissile Plutonium):

• 1 55%-Fissile Plutonium
• ->? Centrifuges ?->
• 11/13 65%-Fissile Plutonium
• 2/13 0%-Fissile Plutonium (0%-Fissile Plutonium could be reused for RTG generators (somewhat realistic)) (Weapon grade Plutonium would be about 97%-Fissile Plutonium)

All the ratios are taken from real world data, and they are also well balanced. (The MOX fuel composition is such that is can be used in the same nuclear reactor as the uranium fuel.) The only thing I'm not so sure about is whether the Nuclear Reprocessing Plant should be harder to use, and whether centrifuging Plutonium from 55%-Fissile Plutonium to 65%-Fissile Plutonium makes sense.

[QViry]

I really like the proposed realistic implementation of the uranium direction. Will it be too complicated?

Real gas diffusion and real reactor does not give perfect accuracy. The concentration of used dividing materials is a compromise of efficiency, cost and safety. You can remove the restriction on the concentration of uranium and plutonium in the separator, but to make nuclear accidents at excessive excess concentration.