Unofficial Stormworks Wiki - User contributions [en-gb]

Nuclear

2026-06-27T03:41:21Z

Tomatosoup:

[[File:SWWiki Nuclear Control Alignment V1 By Kezrah.png|alt=A render showing how to properly align Nuclear control and fuel rods.|thumb|661x661px|A render showing how to properly align Nuclear control and fuel rods. The colour of the bolts has been changed to red to be more obvious]]
'''this article is not complete aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa'''

Nuclear power is a method of creating thermal energy, which can then be converted into rotational energy using steam, and thereby electrical or mechanical energy.

Very basics;
* Stormworks nuclear run of the idea of Nuclear Fission, not fusion. Nuclear fusion is not possible.
* In a reactor, fuel rods produce heat, and control rods control that heat. If a fuel rod is to exceed *1500° C* it will fail and leak radiation.
* The temperature of fuel rods depends on cooling and control rod position. Inserting cool water into a sealed reactor vessel for example, will reduce fuel temperature.

Basics;
* Liquids distribute heat evenly across fuel rods. Fuel rods submersed in liquid will be within *~5° C* of each other.
* Gases do not distribute heat well, which can cause uneven temperatures. Fuel rods submersed in gas can have significantly different temperatures.
* Removing control rods increases fuel rod temperature and reactor power.
* Inserting control rods decreases temperature and reduces power.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Basic Reactor Concept*

A very simple way to think about a Stormworks nuclear reactor is:

# Fuel rods generate heat through fission.
# Control rods regulate how fast the fission happens.
# A coolant (typically water, can be anything in theory) carries heat away from the fuel rods into a boiler or similar.
# The heat is used to produce steam or drive turbines/pistons.
# Turbines/pistons convert the energy into electricity or mechanical power.

* Fuel and control assemblies can be aligned using the nuts on the reactor components.

=== Essential components ===
# Nuclear Fuel Rod:
* Takes 9 uranium pellets to construct, or 225 uranium ore units.
* Stores a large amount of energy, lasts for practically infinity in stormworks terms; A rough estimate is about 91 real days at ~180c.
* Max temperature 1500c; if impacted or damaged in anyway, radiation will be released.

# Nuclear Fuel Assembly
* Holds your fuel rod
* Reports temperature data

# Nuclear Control Rod
* The aforementioned control rod in the basics section; regulates thermal output. (Actually, neutron output, but simplified)
* Insert it to reduce thermal power, remove it to increase thermal power.
* 0-1 input, no electricity required. Powered by John Deltars himself.

# Coolant
* Typically, fresh water, but you can use literally anything. Even gasses, albeit they will be less effective.
* Allows cooling
* Allows transfer of heat to a boiler, or any source requiring heat.

'''Less than essential components'''

# Radiation detector
* Detects radiation. 2 units is harmful to players w/o hazmat. 8 units is harmful to players with hazmat gear.
* A relative way to gauge reactor period (stability) but not very accurate for this purpose. Good fo rreference and emergency detection.
* A large spike in your reactor would be BAD!!!

=== How the reactor Reacts ===

Unlike real nuclear reactors, Stormworks reactors are primarily governed by fuel rod adjacency rather than a full neutron transport. Therefore, real reactor designs may struggle. But also, please do replicate them (at 1/2 scale typically is good for sw). its hella fun. and hella hard.

# Adjacent fuel assemblies multiply your heat production
# FOR A CONTROL ROD TO WORK, IT MUST STOP A NEUTRON FROM REACHING ANOTHER FUEL ROD ENOUGH TO BRING THE FUEL SUBCRITICAL. CONTROL RODS CANNOT BE JUST ON THE EDGE AND NOWHERE ELSE.
# The reactor does not produce electricity. It makes heat.

=== Optimizing your reactor ===

# Bigger is not always better; you wont really ever need more than 9 fuel rods unless youre either doing crazy stuff, or just like the look (real)
# 180c tends to be the sweet spot temperature wise unless you have high thermal demand.
# Anything over 300c burns fuel like crazy. Above 800c you can expect a few hours of fuel life.

=== Controlling your reactor ===
* You almost never need a pid, yippee!!!
* You can use a function. Just current temperature divided by desired.
* You will want a hard stop at a certain temperature. On my reactors; i tend to choose about 300c fuel temperature among other conditions to 'SCRAM' the reactor.

=== Problems, solutions. ===
* Reactor wont heat;
Add more fuel, or have it less interrupted by control rods.
* Reactor heats too much :(
More control rods that interfere with fuel rods
* Reactor melts instantly (as in, on spawn)
No one really knows the fix. Sometimes a seperate sealed space above the coolant with gas can help? Run less fuel rods too. Its a stormworks bug.

Nuclear

2026-03-20T02:46:57Z

Tomatosoup: new nuclear page (incomplete)

[[File:Delete this later.png|alt=continue:tm:|thumb|Continue:tm:]]
'''this article is not complete aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa'''

Nuclear is a method of creating thermal energy, which can then be converted into rotational energy using steam, and thereby electrical or mechanical energy.

Stormworks nuclear run of the idea of Nuclear Fission, not fusion. Nuclear fusion is not possible.

In a reactor, fuel rods produce heat, and control rods control that heat. If a fuel rod is to exceed *1500° C* it will fail and leak radiation.

The temperature of fuel rods depends on cooling and control rod position. Inserting cool water into a sealed reactor vessel for example, will reduce fuel temperature.

* Liquids distribute heat evenly across fuel rods. Fuel rods submersed in liquid will be within *~5° C* of each other.
* Gases do not distribute heat well, which can cause uneven temperatures. Fuel rods submersed in gas can have significantly different temperatures.
* Removing control rods increases fuel rod temperature and reactor power.
* Inserting control rods decreases temperature and reduces power.

<nowiki>*</nowiki>Basic Reactor Concept*

A very simple way to think about a Stormworks nuclear reactor is:

# Fuel rods generate heat through fission.
# Control rods regulate how fast the fission happens.
# A coolant carries heat away from the fuel rods into a boiler or similar.
# The heat is used to produce steam or drive turbines/pistons.
# Turbines/pistons convert the energy into electricity or mechanical power.

* Fuel and control assemblies can be aligned using the nuts on the reactor components.

File:Delete this later.png

2026-03-20T02:46:06Z

Tomatosoup:

idk i wanted to upload an image

Units of Measurement

2026-03-17T00:43:25Z

Tomatosoup: add radiation unit

== Information ==
Stormworks: Build & Rescue has a lot of controversy and misconceptions regarding the units of measurements used within the game. Due to the nature of how the game was built; there is no consistency in cross-over with real-world measurements.

=== Table of Units ===
{| class="wikitable"
|+
!Unit of Measurement
!Shorthand
!Usecase
!Additional Information
|-
|Meters
|m
|Distance
|A block in the builder is 0.25m, 4 blocks is a meter. Player is 7 blocks tall.
|-
|Meters Per Second
|m/s
|Speed
|The Speed sensors in game output the value in m/s.
|-
|Rotations Per Second
|RPS
|Engine Speed
|This is the default output value unit that both Prefab and Modular engines use to measure engine speed.
|-
|Litres
|L
|Fluid Volume
|This is the default output value unit for both modular and prefab fluid tanks.
|-
|Litres Per Second
|L/s
|Fluid Transfer Rate
|This is the default output value unit for various components when measuring the transfer of fluids through the component (manual fluid valve, fluid variable valve, etc).
|-
|Stormworks Mass Unit
|SWMU
|Weight
|This is what the game measures weight in, displayed when hovering over the "Spawn" button in workshop.
|-
|Swatts
|sW
|Electricity
|This is the measure of power stored within batteries in Stormworks.
|-
|Swatts per Second
|sW/s
|Electricity Rate
|This is the measure of power consumption or production in Stormworks.
|-
|Torque
|
|Torque
|The output from the Torque Sensor.
|-
|Radiation
|Rad/RU
|Radiation
|The output from the radiation sensor. Arbitrary. 2 Rad's will severely impact the player; 8 Rad's will impact the player in a hazmat suit.
|}

=== Trivia | Notes ===

* Torque is a relatively arbitrary unit.
* There is no 1:1 with SWMU and any real world units of weight/mass.

[[Category:Stormworks Technical Information]]

User:Tomatosoup

2026-03-04T22:59:13Z

Tomatosoup: i made myself a soup

the soup.