Steam Reactor

The Steam Reactor is a block added by IndustrialCraft 2 Classic. It is a more powerful variant of the Nuclear Reactor which produces Steam rather than EU.

Usage
The Steam Reactor is a device used to transform Uranium Cells into large amounts of Heat. That Heat must be either dissipated (and lost), or converted into Steam via Steam Vents. The energy output of a Steam Reactor is not constant; it updates every tick, and increases linearly with the heat dissipated by the Steam Vents it contains.

The Steam Reactor uses similar internal mechanics to the Nuclear Reactor. Uranium Cells in reactors produce a "pulse" of heat every tick. A single Uranium Cell in a Reactor will not produce Heat very quickly. However, for every 2 adjacent Uranium Cells, an additional pulse is generated, increasing the amount of Heat (and energy) they produce. A single Uranium Cell produces 4 Heat/tick; two adjacent cells or one Double Uranium Cell produce 12 Heat/tick (4 for each, +4 for being adjacent). This heat is dumped into adjacent Heat Vents or similar. If no valid adjacent components are available, the Heat will be dumped into the Reactor itself.

The Steam Reactor has two 8000mB fluid tanks, one for Water, one for Steam. Water is converted into Steam a rate of 1mb Water : 160mB Steam. The Steam Reactor contains a 3x6 inventory space for holding components. For each Steam Reactor Chamber adjacent to the Steam Reactor, one additional column is added, to a maximum space of 9x6. These Chambers can also be interacted with for inserting and removing components, Water, and Steam.

As with the conventional Nuclear Reactor, as the Steam Reactor heats, it can start to have negative effects on the world around it (setting things on fire, giving nearby entities radiation poisoning), and if it reaches a critical temperature, it will explode violently. As its internal temperature updates more frequently than that of a standard Reactor (once per tick rather than once per second), greater care must be taken to manage its heat.

The Reactor Planner can be used to test Reactor designs without building them in-world, allowing a user to find out if their reactor will run smoothly or evaporate their base.