Question about refining uraninite/long term storage of enriched uranium

[sweatbox]

Hi everyone, 

I am a little confused on how I can bring extra uranium for a long term mission. I want to bring a fission generator to replace solar panels, knowing that it has a finite life time due to using enriched uranium as its fuel source. This is why I want to bring extra enriched uranium, so that I can extend the lifetime of the generator. 

When I look at the containers I have available, none of them appear to have EnrU as a storage option, and the closest I can get is uraninite. I'm guessing I can refine this somehow, however it's possible I don't have that part of the tech tree unlocked yet, and I'm also concerned about the weight it would cost to bring an entire refinery up.

My questions are essentially as follows:

• Is there a container that has EnrU as a default storage option? The containers from SSPX and other mods I have don't allow it as an option.
• Is it possible to refine Uraninite (or whatever material is required to create EnrU) in space, cost effectively?
• If so, what is the part I need to do it? 
• Are fission generators a viable long-term option to replace solar panels?

I've attached some screenshots below to show the specific container and generator I'm trying to use as well. I haven't played around much with fission generators or RTGs and am trying to learn more about how to use them effectively as well. I really appreciate anyone's help and information. 

 

 

 

[Gargamel]

Moved to add on discussion 

[FusionNexus]

Not 100% sure what mods you have besides Near Future, but there should be an ISRU in the utilities section that refines Uranite to EnrU (or even Ore to EnrU in my case, though my game is very heavily modded).

Fission Reactors/Generators, last an extremely long time even on their own internal fuel supply, something like 5 years in game time iirc.

I couldve sworn there was a fuel tank type that stores EnrU though, I certainly have one, thought It might only have that because I have interstellar fuel switch installed. the Fuel tank looks like a steel barrel with a radioactive symbol on it.

In terms of long term alternatives, Honestly solar panels are the best energy source unless you absolutely intend to go to the outer parts of the Kerbol System (or beyond, if you have mods for interstellar travel, or have mods that rebalance these energy sources in some way). Fission reactors are a very good energy source when not going the solar route.

[FusionNexus]

heyo, back again a few hours later. I did find a specific part that should fulfill your needs. however, it does not refine uranite from my understanding, it only refines Depleted fuel, or Ore.

This is the Nuclear Reprocessor that comes with NearFutureElectrical. It is very efficient with electric charge, but requires cooling to use effectively.

It can Reprocess DepletedFuel back into EnrU at a ratio of 2/1 (Depfuel/EnrU), can convert Depfuel to Xenon, and can process Ore into EnrU (at 1000 ore to 1 EnrU, it produced 3.6 enrU per hour, at 1 ore per second and 200 EC per second). If your willing to deal with mining, this should keep your Kerbopower Gen running infinitely. Otherwise, the enrU it stores is very high as well, allowing your generator to run MUCH longer than the expected 5 year lifespan of the 11 EnrU it already holds.

Edit: can be found either in AdvScienceTech (according to its config) or in Nuclear Fuel Systems (if CommunityTechTree is installed)

Edited September 20, 2022 by FusionNexus

[sweatbox]

8 hours ago, FusionNexus said:

heyo, back again a few hours later. I did find a specific part that should fulfill your needs. however, it does not refine uranite from my understanding, it only refines Depleted fuel, or Ore.

This is the Nuclear Reprocessor that comes with NearFutureElectrical. It is very efficient with electric charge, but requires cooling to use effectively.

It can Reprocess DepletedFuel back into EnrU at a ratio of 2/1 (Depfuel/EnrU), can convert Depfuel to Xenon, and can process Ore into EnrU (at 1000 ore to 1 EnrU, it produced 3.6 enrU per hour, at 1 ore per second and 200 EC per second). If your willing to deal with mining, this should keep your Kerbopower Gen running infinitely. Otherwise, the enrU it stores is very high as well, allowing your generator to run MUCH longer than the expected 5 year lifespan of the 11 EnrU it already holds.

Edit: can be found either in AdvScienceTech (according to its config) or in Nuclear Fuel Systems (if CommunityTechTree is installed)

Thank you for your response. This part does seem to do what I'm looking for in the part I'm describing and I appreciate you finding this information. For clarification, I have quite a few mods installed (All the Near Future mods that are updated for 1.12, Cryo Tanks, Community tech tree/resource pack etc.) and just didn't want to list them all out immediately but if it's popular and updated for 1.12, you can probably assume I have it installed.

A couple more questions - you mention mining, and while I'm not opposed to this (I do plan on starting a mining base but I'm still fairly early in this career save), I'm not sure what the best way to refuel a satellite in deep space would be using this method. Are you suggesting that I can have a probe or small craft that will rendezvous with the satellite from the mining base on a nearby planetary body?  My intent behind my post was to try and find something portable I can bring on the satellite with a store of (what I now realize I should be using) ore or depleted fuel. I noticed I was able to scale this part down using TweakScale, which is great, but am just wondering what you were intending when you mentioned mining.

And finally, do you have any personal recommendations for a long range, nuclear powered satellite? I'm using OPM in this save as well and want to try and visit all the bodies I can, and have very little experience when it comes to RTGs and nuclear powered ships in this game. I'm hoping to learn more about the more advanced concepts and parts with this save, and would be happy to hear any feedback or information you're willing to provide.

Thank you again for your time.

[damerell]

The USI mod constellation includes Enriched Uranium and Depleted Uranium tanks, and even if you don't want to bring all that in, it's easy enough to swipe one or two parts from a mod. https://forum.kerbalspaceprogram.com/index.php?/topic/192855-18x-111x-stockish-project-orion-v182-update-12292020/ includes some _great big_ ones, too.

I would expect that the Uraninite->EnUr process enormously reduces the mass making bringing Uraninite horrendously mass-inefficient - as in "maybe bringing a spare reactor would be less mass-inefficient".

 

[FusionNexus]

10 hours ago, sweatbox said:

Thank you for your response. This part does seem to do what I'm looking for in the part I'm describing and I appreciate you finding this information. For clarification, I have quite a few mods installed (All the Near Future mods that are updated for 1.12, Cryo Tanks, Community tech tree/resource pack etc.) and just didn't want to list them all out immediately but if it's popular and updated for 1.12, you can probably assume I have it installed.

A couple more questions - you mention mining, and while I'm not opposed to this (I do plan on starting a mining base but I'm still fairly early in this career save), I'm not sure what the best way to refuel a satellite in deep space would be using this method. Are you suggesting that I can have a probe or small craft that will rendezvous with the satellite from the mining base on a nearby planetary body?  My intent behind my post was to try and find something portable I can bring on the satellite with a store of (what I now realize I should be using) ore or depleted fuel. I noticed I was able to scale this part down using TweakScale, which is great, but am just wondering what you were intending when you mentioned mining.

And finally, do you have any personal recommendations for a long range, nuclear powered satellite? I'm using OPM in this save as well and want to try and visit all the bodies I can, and have very little experience when it comes to RTGs and nuclear powered ships in this game. I'm hoping to learn more about the more advanced concepts and parts with this save, and would be happy to hear any feedback or information you're willing to provide.

Thank you again for your time.

if your going for interstellar trips like that, you'll definitely want more powerful reactors, Or, assuming you have far future tech, fusion/antimatter stuff. fusion reactors burn through fuel much faster but produce more electricity than fission reactors (i dont think there is an antimatter reactor but i know there are antimatter engines, burn antimatter quite fast but are hyper efficient).

Anyway, NearFutureElectrical also comes with Nuclear Storage options, in the same technode as the reprocessor there should be 3 Nuclear storage tanks of varying size, Intended to store EnrU and DepFuel. (should be called nuclear storage container or something identical). If not in the same technode, they should be spread across a few stock technodes.

Mining was just a suggestion if your willing to deal with the hassle, but effectively yes, you would need a vessel that can rendezvous with a mining base and a ship in orbit. but for interstellar trips, as I mentioned earlier in this response, id actually suggest going with far future techs fusion reactors. FarFuture features two different scoops (1 for atmosphere, 1 for exosphere) that can gather various resources, including the necessary He3 and Deuterium that FarFutures Fusion reactors require (it also gathers antimatter, for the antimatter engines, but its very slow). It also features a bunch of high efficient engines that run on fission, fusion, and antimatter technology. while keeping the same relatively simple systems of nearfuturetech. (I play with near future and KSP Interstellar, Interstellar is very fun but from my point of view, much more complicated)

Edit: also it is entirely possible to create a multipurpose ship, your ship, depending on its size, could just feature the mining equipment itself, land, and leave, assuming it has powerful enough engines to do so. If its large, could feature a detachable vessel that can head down, do the mining, and return to its mothership. for OPM though, just large enough storage will likely do you well enough, I visited Plock in one of my saves, took something like 40 in game years, didnt land on it though, just orbited

Edited September 21, 2022 by FusionNexus