Oppenheimer, or how to cycle uranium without clogging.

[old hornet]

I found this Kovarex design, that uses pair of splitters directing flow of uranium as it goes from source to target.
U235 and U238 seems to have to be on one side of belt.

I think it could start after uranium processing, go trough chain of kovarex, then feed assembler. Some of U238 could be gathered from uranium reprocessing.
Then main loop goes back to starting point.

Does it require beacons if you use multiple GW of nuclear power?
Or beacons are necessary only if you apply uranium liberally - uranium ammo and nukes?

[pure silo]

a single kovarex can support 33 reactors without any modules on it. so theres that.
this design looks like it should work

[old hornet]

Ah so I need only one until endgame, unless I wage nuclear warfare on everything.
Even then you could upgrade it with quality, surround one with 12 (quality) beacons using quality production and speed modules.

[grim sail]

You don't even need one early

[old hornet]

I guess I could have built uranium mall earlier so I could process all uranium and fill 10 steel chests with U238, so I have some U235

[pure silo]

sheesh, just slapping into flab it seems a full legendary single kovarex is 85 output a minute? thats excessive

[old hornet]

Without speed boosts it would have more machines I guess

Chests are here so it could accumulate first U235 without clogging up on U238

[grim sail]

looking into things
1 fully legendary beacon speed and prod setup for a kovarex centrifuge is enough for 900 cells per minute

a legendary reactor uses 1 cell every 80 seconds (factoriolab doesn't have this)

so it uses .75 cells per minute

this means that 1 plant can support a whopping 1184 reactors

[old hornet]

So you can wield army of nuclear spidertrons and lose 10 of them every minute I guess

Uranium centrifuge^2 😄

[pure silo]

whats the loop really accomplishing around the kovarex?

[old hornet]

It sends U238 back home. Top part would be going to uranium fuel cells consumers. Some of it goes to reactors and comes back to starting point.
Once belt is clogged with U238 you stop making more of it until it gets used by U238 consumers.

if U235 wasn't consumed fast enough, then it would fill up belts and buffer chests until used by something.

First splitter tries to send stuff towards kovarex, second splitter ensures that uranium stays at their lanes.

Here is U235 consumption turned off - it accumulates until entire thing stops.

Then it resumes once some of it is removed.

Pure kovarex is little slow with atomic bombs

Hmm this part could be shorter

Its 1.4/s of u235 at max speed, I guess you need to chain those if massproducing nukes.

Nuclear loop, but all U238 not used for power goes to military: It works fine as long as you supply it into loop.

Splitter seems to not split if inserted directly into it.