Dear Stormworkers,
In this upcoming announcement, we discuss the mechanics of nuclear reactors in the next major update!
Nuclear reactors in Stormworks are designed to be a power source with very long fuel life and high energy output, but also very heavy and large. They are modular so that players can design them to the size and specification that they need, and manage their internal mechanics, from the simplest reactor to the most advanced refuelable reactors with safety features.
Safety features are important. As with real nuclear energy, the risk of melt down or radiation leak is a huge downside with significant consequences. We are adding the concept of radiation to Stormworks, where radiation can be contained within compartments, or otherwise leaked into the environment. Radiation is harmful, and will persist for a long period of time. It is essential to handle nuclear materials carefully and dispose of waste responsibly.
Nuclear reactors are created from just 3 new parts: fuel rods, fuel assemblies, and control rods.
Fuel rods are the nuclear fuel that slowly reacts and depletes, generating heat and radiation. They are radioactive. When submerged in fluid, they will pass their heat to and also irradiate that fluid.
Fuel assemblies are a sort of connector for fuel rods. Like real nuclear reactors, rods are arranged in arrays of several rods in order to achieve the critical mass required for the reaction to build up. Fuel assemblies placed next to each other allow the fuel rods within the assembly to interact with each other.
Control rods are placed adjacent to fuel assemblies to absorb reactivity and reduce the energy. They can be used to control the heat output of the reactor.
As with other reactors, this heat can be used to heat water to generate steam, to power steam turbines. We will talk more about steam power soon!
We look forward to hearing your thoughts on nuclear reactors and the upcoming major update.
In response to player feedback, we are also trailing some optimization improvements to Stormworks over on the experimental branch. If this is of interest to you, check out the experimental branch and read the experimental changelog on Discord. Be sure to check back next week, as we are trying further optimizations and we are excited to share any progress with you!
Much love <3,
The Stormworks Developers