Radioactive Elements

Radioactive Elements

Radioactive Elements adds a nuclear isotope industry. You irradiate targets in reactors, separate them in hot cells, and use the resulting isotope cartridges in new machines. In the base game, launching a rocket takes all four production lines. With Space Age, the first rocket needs none of it, and the later science packs each need one line.

There is no new science pack and no new ore.

Factorio 2.1.23 or later. It works with or without Space Age and Quality enabled. You need to own Space Age either way, because cartridges use spoiling.

The production lines

• Polonium: calibrated detectors. Irradiate a bismuth target in an isotope reactor and separate a polonium cartridge in a hot cell. A calibration bench uses it to calibrate detectors.
• Cobalt: insulation. Load a cobalt target into a uranium fuel cell and burn it in a normal nuclear reactor, which still makes full power. A gamma chamber uses the separated cobalt cartridge to turn plastic into insulation.
• Strontium and yttrium: copper foil. Recover strontium from depleted fuel cells and seal it into a parent cartridge. A daughter generator slowly builds up yttrium, about one cartridge every 12 minutes from a fresh parent. A rolling mill uses that to make precision foil, which goes into capacitors along with insulation.
• Californium: avionics. Recover actinides from depleted fuel cells and run two campaigns in an advanced reactor, 10 and 20 minutes long. A neutron analyzer uses the californium cartridge to build avionics from capacitors, insulation, processing units and copper cable.

What changes without Space Age

| Item | Added | |---|---| | Yellow science | 1 calibrated detector per 3 packs | | Rocket silo research | Needs Materials qualification, the last new technology | | Rocket silo | 20 avionics and 10 calibrated detectors | | Rocket part | 1 avionics replaces 1 of its 10 processing units | | Speed module 3 | 4 capacitors | | Productivity module 3 | 2 capacitors and 2 calibrated detectors | | Efficiency module 3 | 2 capacitors and 4 insulation |

Blue circuits, satellites, normal uranium fuel and normal reprocessing are unchanged. Polonium and cobalt need red, green and blue science. Strontium and yttrium add purple. Californium adds yellow.

What changes with Space Age

Uranium only exists on Nauvis, so isotopes are made there and shipped, and cartridges keep weakening on the way. The rocket, rocket silo and level 3 modules stay as they are.

| Item | Changed | How you supply it | |---|---|---| | Yellow science | 1 calibrated detector per 3 packs | Polonium weakens too fast to ship, so make the detectors on Nauvis | | Supercapacitor | +1 insulation | Import insulation, or ship cobalt cartridges and treat Fulgora's plastic there | | Cryogenic science | Lithium foil replaces the lithium plate | Yttrium can't survive the trip, so ship a strontium parent and make yttrium on Aquilo | | Promethium science | Assayed samples replace the chunks, plus 1 avionics per 10 packs | Assay chunks on the platform, using californium cartridges your expedition carries | | Railgun turret | +20 avionics | Build avionics on Nauvis |

Electromagnetic plant research needs Gamma processing, so you'll build nuclear power and the polonium and cobalt lines before making electromagnetic science.

On Aquilo, the daughter generator and lithium rolling mill need heat like other machines.

With Krastorio 2

Krastorio 2 and K2 Spaced Out are supported. Polonium assemblies and campaigns hold 1, 3 and 6 uranium cells, so with K2's 50 GJ cells they hold 50, 150 and 300 GJ. The isotope reactor uses 62.5 MW and the advanced reactor 250 MW, so burns still take 800, 600 and 1200 seconds and no fuel energy is lost. Loaded cobalt cells keep the full 50 GJ.

Recovery keeps everything K2's reprocessing gives: 10 depleted cells return 60 U-238, 40 stone and a 15% chance of 10 tritium, plus the usual concentrates. Times and acid stay the same. Yellow science takes 2 calibrated detectors per 5 packs.

With K2 Spaced Out, cryogenic research data takes 1 lithium foil instead of 1 lithium plate. Promethium research data takes 25 assayed samples instead of 25 chunks, plus 1 avionics per 10 data. The pack recipes stay as they are.

Carrying cartridges, irradiated items or concentrates hurts like uranium does, when K2's radioactivity setting is on. Space Exploration is still not supported.

With Cerys

Cerys is Fulgora's nuclear moon, and the two mods connect. We recommend it if you want more nuclear play. It's a demanding moon of its own: you have to keep the base heated, and dropping cargo onto it needs late research.

Research High-flux irradiation on Cerys. It needs Neutron sources and Cerys's own mixed-oxide waste reprocessing and advanced structure repair. Then:

• A hot cell packs 2 actinide concentrate, a housing and a mixed-oxide fuel cell into a high-flux target.
• The repaired Fulgoran reactor burns it like a mixed-oxide cell, with the same heat, in about 48 seconds at full power. That one burn replaces both californium campaigns.
• A hot cell separates the result into a californium cartridge and a depleted mixed-oxide cell.
• For actinides on the moon, a hot cell turns 5 depleted mixed-oxide cells and 100 nitric acid into 20 U-238, 5 Pu-239 and 2 actinide concentrate. Cerys's own reprocessing gives more plutonium and some U-235 instead.

Empty the reactor's output with an inserter: while a finished target waits there, the reactor stops after its next fuel cell. Cerys allows only its own reactors, so our reactors stay elsewhere, and our machines need heat there like any other. Nothing in Cerys itself changes, and the normal californium route still works.

How cartridges work