Can boilers use anything besides coal? Also nuclear power?

[Nanako]

The coal field thats been feeding my boilers for probably an ingame year is starting to run low, and i keep getting brownouts as mines dry up and i have to divert coal from other areas

Thankfully i have a massive solar farm which is providing about 40% of my power needs. My coal plants running at full capacity aren't making enough power, and i don't have the fuel to scale it up more.

There's no good coal deposits nearby, or even at a moderate distance. just a bunch of smaller ones that i'll need another train to harvest. it's starting to not seem worth it.

So this thread is for two questions:

1. Are there any alternatives besides coal, for burning in the boilers? I noticed solid fuel is a thing that can be made from light oil. maybe some sort of oil product?
I'm sure wood can be used, although i can't think of a way to harvest it in the necessary quantities. i've been clearing forests with grenades but that destroys the wood

2. How the heck does nuclear power work? There should probably be a tutorial for this, but i don't see tutorials for anything but trains. Can someone give me a brief overview? All i really know is that it starts with uranium, i have some up north. I'm almost done researching this insanely expensive tech, and i could do with advice on how to use it

[Emmote]

Yes, you can use any fuel in a boiler. That includes Wood, Wooden Chests, Small Power Poles, Solid Fuel, and Rocket Fuel.

Nuclear power is simple really. Fuel Cells go in a nuclear reactor, they produce heat. Heat gets transferred along Heat Pipes to Heat Exchangers (better boilers). Then the steam from them goes to Turbines.

[Nanako]

is there any way to harvest wood enmasse?

[Emmote]

Besides a Deconstruction Planner, not really.

You should just go mine out another coal field, or start converting some of your Light Oil into Solid Fuel.

Or ditch your Steam power algotogether and just go full Solar until you can get Nuclear power up and running.

[Khan Boyzitbig of Mercia]

Construction robots. Just cover a forest with a deconstruction planner and bam, every tree in range of a roboport will get torn up and dumped into storage or requester chests set to request wood.

[KatherineOfSky]

OP, yes, there is a tutorial for nuclear power :-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yA21zrqMMq0&list=PL4o6UvJIdPNpm9szThfI-2y3Bv0c3rPlB

Also, you can harvest wood with robots if you really want to do so. Not a real solution, since trees don't grow back.

A better solution is to use either solid fuel, build more solar, or use the boundless energy of nuclear!

[Emmote]

Originally posted by slindenau:

Could you maybe not plug your own videos?

And why not? It answers the question.

[Dark Sincerity]

For what its worth, KatherineOfSky's tutorial on nuclear power is really useful. I was so confused by how to set it up the first time that I watched two tutorials, hers and Xterminators and hers was more helpful, tbh. I don't tend to fuss with the more technical/perfectionist part of things, I just want to know how to get stuff set up.

Regarding boilers, I tend to run coal until I have light oil in abundance, then completely switch over to solid fuel. That usually lasts me until I can set up nuclear these days, though pre 0.15 I would just stick with solid fuel. I tried rocket fuel at one point, but I could never craft it quick enough to keep my boilers fueled.

[Nanako]

wow, the deconstruction planner is amazing. I'm now deforesting on a scale that would make brazil jealous.

Got a huge stockpile of wood ready to load onto the belt if coal supply drops, this should do me for now. Ill take a look at the nuclear tutorial, thanks!

[Emmote]

Originally posted by slindenau:

Originally posted by Emmote:

And why not? It answers the question.

Because its not allowed to advertise own work.

That's the wrong context are far as advertising goes - and if you're going to be picky, backseat modding isn't allowed either.

[ShutEye_DK]

Originally posted by slindenau:

Could you maybe not plug your own videos?

You're a real bundle of joy, aren't you?

[Warlord]

Originally posted by slindenau:

Originally posted by Emmote:

And why not? It answers the question.

Because its not allowed to advertise own work. You can link to a youtube search query for "Nuclear Reactor Tutorial", and youtube will make sure the best one(s) are on top.

So, Pampers isn't allowed to tell people to buy Pampers? Coca Cola has to tell everyone to "Always drink whatever-you-want"? The Geico Gecko has to sing the jingle for State Farm?

[KatherineOfSky]

@Slidenau -- I know you have a fondness for being a know-it-all, but you are really being rude. I am not advertising my own videos -- I am providing tutorials for people who specifically ask for them. I gain NOTHING from doing so. If you have an alternative video or guide to link, please do so.

Indeed, the past X topics I have seen you just being argumentative -- not adding ANYTHING to discussions at all, just being very trolly, and it's getting tiresome. (And I am not the only one who has been annoyed by this).

Please be a positive contributor.

[Nanako]

Thanks Katherine, that tutorial was pretty awesome. and at the same time mindboggling. You have so many trains @_@

How much of all that is necessary? The enrichment process seems expensive to get going. Is it necessary to begin with? Is it possible to make fuel cells without doing that, just by using the 235 you dig up?

How would i get a minimal nuclear setup working, can expand later onto something so grand

I've reported slindenau too

[Dark Sincerity]

It is possible to make fuel cells with the U-235, but it's very rare to get from processing. 0.3% per cycle, as opposed to 99.7% (I might be off a little there, going from memory) for U-238. The point of Kovarex processing is to basically exchange some U-238 for a single piece of U-235. With a proper setup (not that hard to do) you can ensure all of the centrifuges are continually processing U-235 but still unloading enough to make fuel cells with as well. Just be warned, it can take a looooooong time to get that point.

Others have done the math, and I thought I read somewhere that you'd need to process ~55,000 ore to get that first run of Kovarex processing. Personally speaking, it took me about 2 hours with something like 30 centrifuges working on Uranium processing to get the first 40. Meanwhile I had thousands of the U-238 just sitting in chests.

[KatherineOfSky]

@Nanako -- Yes, I build my factories pretty big :-)

To start up nuclear power, I was relying on mining for about 4 hours or so, which was feeding 2 reactors, and also producing extra U-235. I had at least 12 centrifuges running the entire time, and mining to feed them all. (All this while I was researching the Kovarex process).

So no, the Kovarex process isn't necessary to start off with, but I would research it as soon as possible, and you can just rely on the bit you process to get the reactors going initially.

To start the setup, build your 12 or so centrifuges and have enough mining to make sure they are all running. Set up 1-2 reactors for power. A single piece of u-235 for fuel cells goes a long way, so you can rely on that once you have a few pieces mined. If you would like blueprints, I have a Nuclear BP book in my google drive: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0BwVHGs2mds_XRUVCekwxYnNldnc?usp=sharing

Or experiment with setups yourself! (It's one of my favorite parts of the game!) :-)