Going Nuclear: steam turbines, Lead Tanks and water return
Handbook · Construction · Next: Startup
Complete heat removal before withdrawing the rods. The BWR boils water inside the vessel; Steam Turbines consume the steam and produce Create rotation. When condensate return is enabled, the consumed steam also yields return water.
Connect the loop
Fresh water reserve ───────────────────────────────────────┐
↓
Cold Leg → Reactor → Hot Leg → Lead Tank → Pump → Steam Turbine
↑ ↓ top
└──────────── Return pump ← Condensate/water ────┘
Use Lead Pipes for shielded steam transport and Create pumps for flow. Check actual fluid movement: a rotating shaft does not prove that its pump moves fluid in the right direction. Separate steam and water with topology and filters.
Include a fresh-water reserve to fill the cold plant and make up losses or disabled condensate return. Cooling must remain available after reactor shutdown and when the consumer network is overstressed. An independent supply for essential pumps helps keep heat removal available.
Lead Tank behaviour
Lead Tanks join into a reservoir. Steam enters and leaves through the sides and top. Without a lit Blaze Burner underneath, steam gradually condenses into water, which leaves at the bottom.
A steam buffer needs heat retention; a condenser needs a working water outlet. If your expected steam buffer contains water, check its burner and outlets before raising reactor power.
Place the Steam Turbine
The turbine is placed as one block, but looks 3×3 and needs free space around it. Do not assemble nine separate turbine blocks into a square.
- Feed steam into the bottom or sides of the casing.
- Extract condensate from the top.
- Connect its shaft to the Create network.
- Align several turbines along a shaft for combined output.
Use Engineer's Goggles to check steam, load and SU output. Rotor inertia means speed does not change instantly.
Size the plant
The checked defaults divide a plant's rating among six turbines.
baseSU = 2200000 and suScale = 1.0 give 2,200,000 SU in total, approximately
366,667 SU per turbine at rated flow. Each turbine is rated for 2,400 mB/s;
six take 14,400 mB/s. SU is stress capacity, not FE or RF.
BuildUp adjustment: Local suScale = 1.5 gives a calculated rating of
3,300,000 SU for six turbines, or 550,000 SU each. These are configuration-derived
ratings, not measurements of an operating plant. Actual output and heat removal
depend on steam supply, load and operating conditions.
At Physics Desk → Calculate → Power, calculate steam, feedwater and turbine requirements for your desired power. Some configuration comments include older water-consumption estimates. Check that the actual water inventory and tank levels remain stable rather than designing entirely around an older multiplier.
Overstress also affects cooling
An overstressed Create network can stop a turbine. Its checked tooltip states that an overstressed network takes no steam. Steam intake then falls, the buffer fills and reactor heat removal deteriorates.
Respond to rising steam inventory and pressure by reducing power or scramming while maintaining cooling. Then check network load, shafts, pump direction, tank behaviour and condensate removal. More turbines help only when their fluid connections and rotational networks work as well.