Fusion Reactor (GregTech)

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PLEASE NOTE: As of GregTech 2.82c the Fusion Reactor has been radically changed in form and function. In order to keep information conveniently accessible while both reactors are in common use, documentation about both varieties of reactors will be in this article. As of 2.82c, the Fusion Reactor block is deprecated and no longer able to be crafted or placed in world. In GregTech 2.82c+, the term "Fusion Reactor" no longer applies to a single block, but instead applies to the large multiblock structure. As this article will for now retain information on both Reactors, the 2.82c Reactor will be referred to as the Fusion Reactor Mark 2. Currently the only FTB mod packs known to have this version are FTB Ultimate 1.1.x, and Mindcrack 8.3.0., but further adoption is inevitable.


Fusion Reactor (GregTech)
Type Block
Stackable Yes (64)
Mod Included GregTech


The Fusion Reactor, regardless of the version of GregTech used, is the most powerful single way to legitimately generate EU power in the game. The reactor is part of the GregTech mod, an extension to IndustrialCraft 2. The Reactor has undergone multiple changes in its lifetime, trending towards providing more and more power at greater and greater cost.

In the version of GregTech included in Feed The Beast Beta Pack A, the reactor generates 4,096 EU/t. In GregTech 2.06, (included in FTB Ultimate 1.0.1), the reactor outputs 32,768 EU/t in 1,000,000 EU packets. Now, with the advent of GregTech 2.82c, the reactor no longer outputs EU directly, instead outputting Helium Plasma, which must be used as fuel in Plasma Generators. A Fusion Reactor running continuously while using either energy-producing recipe, should be capable of providing up to 67,584 EU/t, not including energy costs incurred.

From GregTech 2.06 onward, all varieties of Fusion Reactor can also be used to produce Iridium Ore (IndustrialCraft 2) and Platinum Dust, although this requires both fuel to be provided and energy from an external source, providing items as output instead of power.

Planning for a Fusion Reactor, No Matter the Version

Before setting up whichever Fusion Reactor your GregTech version contains, it is highly recommended that prior to creating the first block, the player first focuses on preparing for the large task ahead. Simply to make the blocks, a player needs both considerable raw materials and well-developed infrastructure of GregTech machines for refining and process the necessary ingredients. It is also necessary that the player have a significant power supply external to fusion (this can later be removed), and the technical know-how to automate the process of making fuel for the reactor.

Automation is especially important because a sustained fusion reaction is nearly impossible to sustain with just a single Steve running around and changing out machines. With the Fusion Reactor Mark 2 this is even more vitally important, as fuel lasts for a far shorter amount of time, and automation becomes even more important order to maintain a continual fusion reaction. Without automation, a reactor will likely run for a very small time and provide more frustration and disappointment than reward.

With both types of reactors, but the Mark 2 especially, it is recommended that the player use faster methods of automation that directly access inventories, such as Factorization Routers or Applied Energistics Import Buses and Export Buses.

It is also worth noting that a lot of the recipes involved in making the various pieces of the reactor are extremely complicated and somewhat repetitive. Optionally, one may choose to make an Applied Energistics ME Network with an ME Molecular Assembler Chamber, and then provide the Assembler Machine with ME Blank Pattern disks that have been encoded with all the necessary recipes starting from raw resources and ending with the blocks necessary. After adding the necessary raw materials to the ME Network, one can simply create all the necessary components on demand.

An important decision one needs to make from the beginning is to decide what their fusion recipe is going to be. There are two energy-producing recipes which you can use. The basic recipes are the same, regardless of version, but there are some minor variations in the way the recipes work depending on the reactor version.

One recipe is Deuterium fused with Tritium. The advantage of using this recipe is that everything can be produced from a starting point of water. The main disadvantage is that processing time for making them is dismally slow. In order to compensate for this, people have been known to create settups including over a hundred centrifuges running simultaneously in order to maintain this recipe. In the Mark 1, these two need to be replaced in the reactor quicker than the other recipe. For the Mark 2, rather than being used up more quickly, this recipe takes a relatively minor hit in net energy gain; it's so small most people would notice.

The second recipe is Deuterium fused with Helium-3. This has the advantage of requiring far fewer machines, but does require a constant source of Endstone Dust to provide enough Helium 3. If you can overcome the supply of Endstone Dust, this recipe is generally the better choice, especially on the older Fusion Reactor, where the fuel will last twice as long as the Deuterium/Tritium recipe.

Fusion Reactor Mark 2 Concepts

One glaring changing in this new reactor design is that it does not output power in EU, instead producing Helium Plasma which must be placed inside a Plasma Generator to provide power. Each bucket's worth of plasma will make 8,192,000 EU. In a Plasma Generator (the only way to use the plasma!) you will receive 2048 EU/t as long as some plasma remains inside of the Generator. The Generator will not use Plasma if power is not being drained. If you kept every Plasma Generator you had using all of its power produced all of the time, you would have enough plasma from one reactor to power 33 Plasma Generators.

The plasma acts like any other registered liquid under Minecraft Forge; usual methods like Liquiducts and Liquid Tesseracts are recommended for moving the liquids around. It is also highly recommended that one sends their reactor output of Helium Plasma into a large Iron Tank or a Multi Tank, and subsequently pumping the plasma out to its destinations from there. In most cases the reactor produces far more plasma than it needs, and will quickly fill up even the biggest of tanks. allowing for the largest of tanks to act in essence as an energy storage unit that makes the Interdimensional Energy Storage Unit's 1,000,000,000 EU look paltry in comparison.

Additionally, the Reactor will need to charge up before it will start fusion. The original reactor and the Mark 2 both have this trait. You will need to have a power supply capable of providing relatively large amounts of power accessible to your reactor for its initial warm-up. For Deuterium/Tritium Fusion, 40,000,000 EU is needed. For Deuterium/Helium-3 Fusion, 60,000,000 EU is needed. Unlike the previous version of the Fusion reactor, the Mark 2 requires a constant source of power to keep in operation, needing at 2048 EU/t to maintain the Deuterium/Helium-3 Reaction and 4096 EU/t to maintain the Deuterium/Tritium Reaction. It is therefore advisable to connect 1 Plasma Generator if using Deuterium/Helium-3 Fusion or 2 Plasma Generators if using Deuterium/Tritium Fusion as soon as the reactor has begun producing Helium Plasma.

Please note that when deciding where to place the reactor, the Tokamak of the the Reactor fits inside of a space that's 15 blocks wide & long and 3 blocks high. That's without things attached to it that make it work or any way for you to enter or exit. So plan accordingly to make the room comfortable for you and the different areas of the reactor easily accessible. There is a small but finite chance of causing decent-sized explosion in a fusion reactor as well, so adding some blast resistant blocks to the outside of the room may be a prudent move

Processing Fuel for the Mark 2

So with your chosen fuel recipe, one can start planning for and making their fuel processing area. This is by far the most important part of setting up your reactor system. Keep this in mind as you continue. The goal here is simple: you need to make fuel at a rate that keeps fusion going. Two kinds, whichever your recipe specifies. You will have achieved success when you are producing at least 1 cell's worth of each type of fuel every 6.4 seconds. Before the Fusion Reactor Mark 2, there used to be only one way of doing this, namely, making a bunch of machines, and adding more and more, potentially creating unnecessarily huge automation complexes. This method still works and has worth. It will always retain the advantage of consuming the least amount of energy.

There does exist a new path for those who prefer to use fewer machines and don't mind sacrificing a smaller chunk of the massive amounts of power they're going to get to do so. People using this path will have to ensure they're providing enough power to the right number of machines and balancing out upgrades properly. Upgrades are now included with the GregTech version that includes the Fusion Reactor Mark 2. It allows IndustrialCraft 2 upgrades and additional GregTech specific upgrades to be applied to nearly any GregTech machine - including the Industrial Centrifuge and Industrial Electrolyzer. One applies them by right clicking them onto the desired machine. Be careful as each upgrade applied in this manner is permanent. Upgrading does however greatly reduce the lag footprint of the machines, as each upgrades halves the number of machines required.

Example for overclocking in a Deuterium-Tritium reaction: When adding one overclocker to Centrifuges, you will only need half of them(72 total, not 144), but each will take 20 EU/t, which will reduce the overall energy yield by 720 EU/t (about 1.4%). Using two overclockers will again half the number to 36, but each centrifuge will take 80 EU/t, thus reduce the yield by 2160EU/t (about 4%). Adding one overclocker to each Electrolyzer(16, 32 without overclockers) will reduce the yield by 3840EU/t (about 7%).

Take note that an Overclocker Upgrade increases a GregTech machine's energy needs by 4 times while only doubles its speed (resulting in twice the EU used per operation). To offset the lack of energy if building of external Transformers is not possible or wanted, one can apply Transformer Upgrades (usually one or two) until the machine is able to handle High Voltage. After applying these, one can apply an HV-Transformer Upgrade; the first application brings the machine's maximum voltage to 2048 EU/t and the second application up to 8192 EU/t. One generally needs to pair an Overclocker Upgrade with a stronger powernet, otherwise the possibility exists of modifying machines that will simply not function unless you provide it with massively larger amounts of power (incase the machine needs constant power, like a Electolyzer or Blast Furnace, other machines will just be slowed down).

Once you're producing liquids at the right rate, you may want to consider adding one Liquid Transposer per fuel type, set it to extracting mode, and from here directly pumping your fuels into the Reactor. Generally the Transposer and destination points on the reactor would be connected by Liquiducts or Liquid Tesseracts. One transposer will need to be used per variety of liquid. This has the added benefit of quickly reclaiming a cell and making it available for reuse in the creation of more fuel.

Building the Fusion Reactor Mark 2

Finally, you've made it through the grueling preparation. That, or you skipped down to this section to peek. Hopefully you can and do make fuel with the best of them and you've got a good grasp on the concepts behind operating this baby. Now you're ready to make the beast of a reactor itself.

The Reactor is a variable multiblock, similar to Alvearys, so the required blocks may change depending on your desired reaction:

The amount of Energy Injectors is dependant from the starting cost of the used recipe, each one has a storage of 10 million EU, so Deuterium-Tritium needs just 4, while the Lithium+Tungsten->Iridium needs 10.

The Reactor is built like the following image shows, the colored wool is to be replaced by the special blocks accoring to this list or just Advanced Casings.

  • Blue: Fusion Material Injector
  • Red: Fusion Material Extractor
  • Yellow: Fusion Energy Injector

Here is a example setup that uses more then the required Material Injectors and Extractors for symmetry reasons as well as 8 Energy Injectors (colored differently):

Fusion Reactor Mark 2: Get That Reaction Into Action

Marvel at your handiwork, and then it's on to business. The first thing to do is attach power to each of the Fusion Energy Injectors at a voltage of up to 2048 EU/p. Then right click the Fusion Control Computer and verify that the green power bar at the very bottom has begun to grow. This both confirms that you are receiving power and is a way of verifying that the multiblock was put together properly and formed correctly. It the bar does not grow within a minute or two, ensure that everything was placed properly, the power properly connected, and then, if the power bar still hasn't grown, the multiblock hasn't formed properly. It's just a minor bug; wrench remove a couple of blocks and replace them, and recheck the Fusion Control Computer. Charging should begin then.

Your two fuels need to be routed in to the Fusion Material Injectors at this time. While using liquids piped in directly from a Liquid Transposer emptying the cells it receives is recommended, one may also provide cells, but one will also need to ensure those cells are removed, or else the reaction will halt upon having 64 cells in the output slot. Adequate and responsive automation is key if using cells inside the reactor.

It is important when routing fuel into the Fusion Material Injectors that one type of fuel occupies a Material Injectors in the top and the other one bottom.

From here, you're going to need to set-up your Helium Plasma Output. Liquiducts are highly appropriate for this as you need a liquid pipe with an extraction feature. Attach them to your Fusion Material Extractor and route them according to your design. After doing this, if using Liquiducts, wrench them to Extraction mode and provide a redstone signal, making sure you do not apply a redstone signal to the Fusion Control Computer - this will shut the reactor down. From here, once fusion begins, Helium Plasma will begin to be extracted. All of the circles on the reactor will also glow yellow while the reaction is ongoing.

Once this has begun, take advantage of it and wire a one or two plasma generators to your Fusion Energy Injectors using either 4x Insulated HV Cable or Superconductor Wire. You can use Glass Fibre Cable, but that requires a dedicated HV Transformer at each Generator. Do the same to your fuel processing system, making it self-sufficient. In this case HV-Transformers are recommended, one at each Generator. From there on you might place more MV and LV Transformers or use Transformer Upgrades in all of your machines (Centrifuges would need 2, Electorlyzers 1)

If you planned properly, at this point all you should need to do is watch your reactor and make sure it continues to operate normally. Monitor the amounts of fuels kept on hand over the first few days so you can ensure that your automation is working as planned.Take the time now to pat yourself on the back. You have made one of the hardest multiblock machines in any of the FTB ModPacks, and if you've followed this articles advice in planning. You've done it amazingly well.

If you want to go further with the Mark 2, the only road less traveled is the matter-producing recipes, though these require a significant amount of material, cells, and energy to sustain, making Iridium this way is significantly more efficent than straight from UU. Furthermore, it is possible that there are (as of yet) unknown uses for further adding hardware to the Reactor as shown in the (somewhat hard to read) reactor planner available in the Fusion Control Computer interface.

Setting up a Fusion Reactor Prior to GregTech 2.82c

To set up a Fusion Reactor, a Fusion Reactor block is required as well as 24 Fusion Coils, 2 HV-Transformers, cables to provide input and output energy, and a method of getting enough energy to trigger the fusion. Even reactions which are exergonic (energy-outputting) require a specific amount of energy stored before fusion can begin, usually several million. Thus, a stable power supply is necessary before a Fusion Reactor is set up to multiply this power.

The two photographs here show an example Fusion Reactor setup; if the Fusion Coils are laid out in a different manner than shown, the Fusion Reactor will refuse to function. The Fusion Reactor's GUI will say whether or not the coils are positioned properly. Note that the coils must also be positioned horizontally, not vertically.

The reactors emits 32,768 EU/t in 1,000,000 EU packets, to step this down to a usable voltage you need 16 HV transformers. The only cable capable of handling 1,000,000 EU packets is the Superconductor Wire, but due to the extreme cost of that cable it generally makes sense to step down to HV very close to the reactor and use glass fibre cables to distribute the power. Note that due to the immense EU/t output, wire loops (such as a wall of HV Transformers) can cause extreme lag.

Each fusion operation has a required operation energy to trigger the fusion, a specific EU output, two input materials and one output material. If any of these are wrong, the Fusion Reactor will not function. All recipes with their necessary factors can be found in the database of a GregTech Computer Cube.

While each fusion returns an Empty Cell with an end product, they currently have the same output slot with empty cells appearing one by one after the main end product is taken out.

File:Fusion Reactor Setup.png
The Setup of the 24 Coils and the Reactor itself.

Energy can be inserted via the two sides with the larger circles.

Energy output is the two smaller circles. The top face can be used for filling the top slot of the reactor with pipes and the bottom face can be used for filling the bottom slot of the reactor with pipes. Any remaining sides not used for energy input or output can be used for piping out the product cells.

The Reactor has an internal storage of 100 million EU.

Crafting Reactor Prior to GregTech 2.82c

Short overview for the materials needed:

24 Fusion Coils

              96 Highly Advanced Machine Blocks
                             384 Titanium Ingots
                             384 Chrome Ingots
                             96 Steel Machine Hulls or Advanced Machine Blocks
               48 Tesla Coils
                             240 Redstone Dust
                             48 MV-Transformers
                             48 Electronic Circuits
                             96 Refined Iron
               24 Energy Flow Circuits
                             24 Lapotron Crystals
                             24 Platinum Ingots
                             24 Advanced Circuits
               24 Superconductors
                             8 Gold Ingots
                             16 Glass Fibre Cables
                             48 Superconductor Covers
                                             32 Iridium Plates
                                             64 Advanced Alloys
                                             48 Carbon Plates
               24 Iridium Neutron Reflectors
                             192 Thick Neutron Reflectors
                                             768 Neutron Reflectors
                                                             3072 Tin Dust
                                                             3072 Coal Dust
                                                             768 Dense Copper Plates
                                                                            6144 Copper
                                             192 Beryllium Cells
                             24 Iridium Plates

Fusion Reactor

              4 Energy Flow Circuits
                             4 Lapotron Crystals
                             4 Platinum Ingots
                             4 Advanced Circuits
              2 Supercondensators
                             8 Energy Flow Circuits
                                             8 Lapotron Crystals
                                             8 Platinum Ingots
                                             8 Advanced Circuits
                             4 Laptronic Energy orb
                                             32 Lapotron Crystals
                                             4 Iridium Plates
                             4 Superconductor
                                             12 Superconductor Cover
                                                                12 Carbon Plates
                                                                16 Advanced Alloys
                                                                8 Iridium Plates
                                             4 Glass Fibre Cables
                                             2 Gold Ingots
                             2 Highly Advanced Machine Block
                                             8 Titanium Ingots
                                             8 Chrome Ingots
                                             2 Steel Machine Hulls or 2 Advanced Machine Blocks
              2 Laptronic Energy Orbs
                             16 Lapotron Crystals
                             2 Iridium Plates
              GregTech Computer
                             2 Energy Flow Circuits
                                             2 Lapotron Crystals
                                             2 Platinum Ingots
                                             2 Advanced Circuits
                             2 Data Orbs
                                             16 Data Storage Circuits
                                                             32 Emeralds (Emerald Dust)
                                                             4 Advanced Circuits
                             4 Computer Monitors
                                             16 Aluminium Ingots
                                             4 Glowstone Dust
                                             4 Sulfur Goos
                                             4 Lapis Lazuli
                                             4 Liquide Lime Green
                            Steel Machine Hull or Advanced Machine Block

70 Iridium Plates (280 Iridium Ores) overall

It might be possible that some amounts are different

Fusion Reactor


Fusion Coil


Crafting Reactor in GregTech 2.82c and later

Overview of the materials needed (variations possible, check NEI for applicable/alternative recipes):

   1 Fusion Control Computer
           1 Fusion Coil
                       4 Energy Flow Circuit
                                   4 Advanced Circuit
                                               4 Elite Circuit Board
                                                           4 Advanced Circuit
                                                                       4 Advanced Circuit Board
                                                                                   2 Silicon Plate
                                   2 Lapotron Crystal
                                               4 Electronic Circuit
                                                           24 Copper Cable
                                                                       24 Rubber
                                                                       12 Copper
                                                           4 Refined Iron
                                                           8 Redstone
                                               24 Lapis Lazuli
                                               2 Sapphire
                                   2 Tungsten Plate
                                   1 Iridium Plate
                                               1 Iridium Alloy Ingot
                                                           1 Diamond Dust
                                                           4 Iridium Ingot
                                                           4 Advanced Alloy
                                                                       4 Mixed Metal Ingot
                                               8 Industrial TNT
                                                           6 TNT
                                                                       30 Gunpowder
                                                                       24 Sand
                                                           12 Flint
           6 Energy Flow Circuit
                       
           2 GregTech Computer Cube
   32 Fusion Coil
           64 Nichrome Heating Coil
                                              64 Chrome Ingot
                                              256 Ferrous Ingot / Nickel Ingot
           128 Energy Flow Circuit
                                   512 Advanced Circuit
                                               512 Electronic Circuit
                                                           3072 Copper Cable
                                                                       3072 Rubber
                                                                       1536 Copper
                                                           512 Refined Iron
                                                           1024 Redstone
                                               1024 Lapis Lazuli
                                               2048 Redstone
                                               1024 Glowstone Dust
                                   256 Lapotron Crystal
                                               512 Electronic Circuit
                                                           3072 Copper Cable
                                                                       3072 Rubber
                                                                       1536 Copper
                                                           512 Refined Iron
                                                           1024 Redstone
                                               3072 Lapis Lazuli
                                               256 Sapphire
                                   256 Tungsten Plate
                                   128 Iridium Plate
                                               128 Iridium Alloy Ingot
                                                           128 Diamond Dust
                                                           512 Iridium Ingot
                                                           512 Advanced Alloy
                                                                       512 Mixed Metal Ingot
                                               1024 Industrial TNT
                                                           768 TNT
                                                                       3840 Gunpowder
                                                                       3072 Sand
                                                           1536 Flint
           32 Iridium Neutron Reflector
                                   256 Thick Neutron Reflector
                                               1024 Neutron Reflector
                                                           4096 Coal Dust
                                                           4096 Tin Dust
                                                           1024 Dense Copper Plate
                                                                       8192 Copper Plate
                                               256 Beryllium Cell
                                   32 Iridium Plate
                                               32 Iridium Alloy Ingot
                                                           32 Diamond Dust
                                                           128 Iridium Ingot
                                                           128 Advanced Alloy
                                                                       128 Mixed Metal Ingot
                                               256 Industrial TNT
                                                           192 TNT
                                                                       960 Gunpowder
                                                                       768 Sand
                                                           384 Flint
           32 Highly Advanced Machineblock
                                   128 Titanium Plate
                                   128 Chrome plate
                                   32 Advanced Machine Block
                                               64 Carbon Plate
                                                           64 Raw Carbon Mesh
                                                                       128 Raw Carbon Fibre
                                                                                   512 Coal Dust
                                               64 Advanced Alloy
                                                           64 Mixed Metal Ingot
                                               32 Machine Block
                                                           256 Refined Iron
           32 Superconductor
                                   24 60k Coolant Cell
                                   24 Energy Flow Circuit
                                   16 Tungsten Plate
                                   8 Iridium Plate
                                               8 Iridium Alloy Ingot
                                                           8 Diamond Dust
                                                           32 Iridium Ingot
                                                           32 Advanced Alloy
                                                                       32 Mixed Metal Ingot
                                               64 Industrial TNT
                                                           48 TNT
                                                                       240 Gunpowder
                                                                       192 Sand
                                                           96 Flint
   1 Fusion Material Extractor
           1 Highly Advanced Machineblock
                       4 Titanium Plate
                       4 Chrome Plate
                       1 Advanced Machine Block
                                   2 Carbon Plate
                                               2 Raw Carbon Mesh
                                                           4 Raw Carbon Fibre
                                                                       16 Coal Dust
                                   2 Advanced Alloy
                                               2 Mixed Metal Ingot
                                   1 Machine Block
                                               8 Refined Iron
           3 Energy Flow Circuit
           4 Pump (IndustrialCraft 2)
           1 Chest
   2 Fusion Material Injector
           2 Highly Advanced Machineblock
                                   8 Titanium Plate
                                   8 Chrome Plate
                                   2 Advanced Machine Block
                                               4 Carbon Plate
                                                           4 Raw Carbon Mesh
                                                                       8 Raw Carbon Fibre
                                                                                   32 Coal Dust
                                               4 Advanced Alloy
                                                           4 Mixed Metal Ingot
                                               2 Machine Block
                                                           16 Refined Iron
           6 Energy Flow Circuit
           8 Pump (IndustrialCraft 2)
           2 Chest
   at minium 4 Fusion Energy Injector
           16 Superconductor (GregTech)
                       12 60k Coolant Cell
                       12 Energy Flow Circuit
                       8 Tungsten Plate
                       4 Iridium Plate
                                   4 Iridium Alloy Ingot
                                               4 Diamond Dust
                                               16 Iridium Ingot
                                               16 Advanced Alloy
                                                           16 Mixed Metal Ingot
                                   32 Industrial TNT
                                               24 TNT
                                                           120 Gunpowder
                                                           96 Sand
                                               48 Flint
           4 Supercondensator
                       16 Energy Flow Circuit
                       8 Superconductor (GregTech)
                       4 Highly Advanced Machineblock
                       8 Lapotronic Energyorb
           16 Energy Flow Circuit

Video

Tutorial For Newest Fusion Reactor Update (1.4.7)(1.5)
This is a comprehensive guide to the fusion reactor prior to GregTech 2.82c.

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