Getting Started (NuclearCraft)

This is a community-written guide. It was written to help players to get accustomed to NuclearCraft.

Introduction
NuclearCraft is a tech mod that focuses on generating power using nuclear reactors. It is intended to be used in mod packs to provide power for your activities. Unlike Extreme Reactors, NuclearCraft takes a semi-realistic view, introducing radioactive isotopes, multi-step chemical processes for crafting and realistic nuclear fission and fusion byproducts. The consequences of mistakes are less cinematic than in other reactor mods.

About this Guide
This guide is not an exhaustive description of items, nor a tutorial on using each item, and does not touch on every aspect of the mod. It is a helping hand to get you started with NuclearCraft, particularly the mod's fission reactors. Throughout this guide you'll find links to various blocks and items. Be sure to explore these links for full details, descriptions and illustrations and also check out the Navigation Box at the bottom of the page for more info about other parts of the mod that are not covered here.

The foundation

 * 1) Start by stockpiling all the NuclearCraft ores that you find. You'll need a lot. You'll also need quite a lot of and, some , , and.
 * 2) Unless other power options are available to get started, your first step is to create a Decay Generator to power your early machinery. Decay Generators generate power from the heat generated by the decay of adjacent uranium and thorium blocks - they are very inefficient so you'll want to upgrade pretty quickly.
 * 3) Now craft your first NuclearCraft utility machine, the Manufactory. With it, you will create Crushed Coal, Graphite Dust and Crushed Quartz, and can also be used a a simple ore doubler if you choose. The recipe is rather simple. It requires the first example of a NuclearCraft machine component: a Copper Solenoid.
 * 4) At this point, consider replacing your Decay Generators with Basic Solar Panels (5 RF/t during daylight) or Uranium RTGs (4 RF/t constantly).
 * 5) Now your power is a little more stable, make an Alloy Furnace. You'll be using this machine a lot, so you might want to make more than one.
 * 6) If you already have a good RF power generation setup, consider adding some Speed Upgrades to your machines.
 * 7) The Isotope Separator is your next step and the most important parts of initial nuclear material processing. It separates materials into their constituent Isotopes.
 * 8) Once you have your Isotope Separator set up, it is time to build your first Fission Controller, the heart of a Fission Reactor.

Building a Reactor
At this point, you should check your stock of Iron, Coal, Boron and Lithium. We're almost ready to make our first, very basic Fission Reactor but we're going to need a lot of Basic Plating and Tough Alloy to make one. The main article on Fission Reactors describes how to build a Fission Reactor. You'll need to decide how big a reactor to make. Due to the complex nature of how Fission Reactors work, it's not possible to recommend a size, you're going to have to experiment. As a demonstration, we will construct a very small, simple, water-cooled Fission Reactor.

Note: The following reactor design is rather inefficient in later versions of NuclearCraft (v2.9a and above) due to the changes made to the fission reactor rules. All in all, this section is currently a little outdated, and it may be best that, for now, you head over to the main Fission Reactor page and learn how to build your first reactors from there.


 * 1) Make 20 Tough Alloy and 20 Steel Alloy. Using these, craft 10 Empty Coolers.
 * 2) Craft each Empty Cooler with a Water Bucket to make Water Coolers.
 * 3) Make 8 Tough Alloy and 32 Basic Plating and craft them together to make 32 Reactor Casing blocks.
 * 4) Craft 8 Tough Alloy and 8 Glass together to make 2 Reactor Cells.
 * 5) Grind 9 pieces of Coal in the Manufactory to make Graphite Dust then re-grind to make Graphite Ingots. Craft the 9 ingots into a Graphite Block.


 * 1) Place 6 Reactor Casings on the ground in a 2x3 shape. NUCC-TutorialReactor-Step1.jpg
 * 2) On top of the Reactor casings, Place 3 Water Coolers in one row and then the two Reactor Cells with a Graphite Block between them. NUCC-TutorialReactor-Step2.jpg
 * 3) Place 6 Water Coolers on top of the second layer. You should have one left over. NUCC-TutorialReactor-Step3.jpg
 * 4) Cover all exposed surfaces with Reactor Casings. NUCC-TutorialReactor-Step4.jpg
 * 5) Place the Fission Controller on one of the edges. NUCC-TutorialReactor-Step5.jpg
 * 6) Open the Fission Controller GUI with a right-click. Insert your TBU fuel rod into the inventory slot on the left. NUCC-TutorialReactor-Step6.jpg

If you've done everything correctly, it should report a 2x2x3 Fission Reactor that generates 255 RF/t, with a heat of -64 H/t and an efficiency of 212%. If not, check the steps and images above to find where you went astray. If it all looks good, apply a redstone signal with a Lever and it will start generating power!

A note about Heat: Following the exact steps above will result in a safe reactor that will not overheat and melt down. Using a different fuel with a different heat number may damage your reactor. Such details are outside the scope of this Getting Started guide. Please see the article on Fission Reactors for a more in-depth discussion about heat, fuels and coolers.

Afterword
Hopefully this guide has been useful in getting you up and running with your first reactor. Your next step is to explore the various links in this wiki, learn about the other parts and see what amazing reactors you can make! Separate articles on Fission Reactors and Fusion Reactors will go into more detail on advanced reactor design.