This is an up and coming (heavy tech) mod for Minecraft that aims to add nuclear physics, systems, and interactions to the game for power or matter creation. Heat transfer, nuclear decay, fission, fusion, annihilation, transmutation, and the associated dangers will be found within.
This will be a full-scale mod with correct (mostly) math using established science and theories, with a touch of scientifically plausible mechanics (fusion w/o the gravity of a star, antimatter reactors) for gameplay interest and mechanics. A varied configuration file will be included to tailor the mechanics to the player's liking. Most values will be tweakable, with a few being static for intended balance (think how Thaumcraft does it).
I want this mod to be accessible to many players, since Minecraft traditionally draws a younger audience. Clear explanation of why things are doing what they are doing, how you can build designs to fit your needs safely, but still with correct values for most systems such as heat transfer/loss in different materials, gasses under pressure, liquid metals, etc.
My philosophy for learning is that if you know the pieces to the whole, you can more appropriately learn how and why the whole does what it does, and will try to apply that style to this mod.
From the very first man made reactor all the way to sci-fi style antimatter annihilation with different costs, risks, and rewards.
These reactors use uranium metal mined from the earth, which, in its un-enriched form, is only made up of about 0.75% of U-235 (the isotope responsible for fission and propagating the chain reaction--the other 99.25% being U-238). This must be enriched via processes that usually bring up the U-235 content to around 4%. The leftover U-238 that has virtually zero U-235 is classified as 'depleted uranium, DU' and has no use for normal power generation, but does have some uses as an extremely dense metal. Enrichment ranges encompass the entire spectrum, from 0% (DU) all the way to 97% (HEU, Highly Enriched Uranium). Normal power reactors rarely exceed 10% enrichment.
Bombarding a U-235 nucleus with a thermal neutron will (most often) cause the nucleus to split (fission), releasing energy, 2-3 'fast' neutrons, and two elemental byproducts. To change a 'fast' neutron into a 'thermal' neutron, they have to pass through a 'moderator' material, which can slow down a fast neutron. Moderation materials are most commonly regular water, heavy water, or solid graphite.
Uncontrolled, those 3 released neutrons can each hit another U-235 nucleus, causing more energy and 3 MORE neutrons. This is why more highly enriched uranium is more fissile--there is simply more U-235 to be the target of those neutrons, instead of hitting a U-238 nucleus and being absorbed most of the time.
This reaction can be controlled, and in fact is, using substances that are 'neutron poisons' (things that readily absorb neutrons and are very good at it). 'Control rods' are made of a neutron poison, and are raised or lowered into the reactor core to either slow down or speed up the chain reaction taking place inside the core. The lower (deeper) the control rods are in the core, the more of a chance that they will absorb a neutron, thus lowering the rate of the reaction. Control rods are usually placed on top of the core, so in the event of a power outage, the control rods will fall down into the core, effectively halting the reactions.
The thorium breeder reactor, like the uranium reactor, uses controlled fission to split a nucleus to release energy. Thorium, however, is not exactly the fuel--it undergoes nuclear transmutations once it absorbs a neutron while inside of the reactor to BECOME the fuel: U-233.
When Th-232 captures a neutron, it becomes Th-233 and quickly (over the next 30 minutes) decays into Protactinium-233. Pa-233 then, over the next 30 days, decays into U-233, the actual fuel.
TODO: finish this complicated part
TODO: More fusion