Nuclear Furnace
A 5x5 smelter fired by uranium fuel cells instead of the power grid.
What it does
- Burns uranium fuel cells, returns depleted cells. No electricity needed.
- Crafting speed 4, 4 module slots, +50% base productivity (all configurable).
- Smelts everything an electric furnace can, including recipes added by other mods.
Cooling loop (on by default)
- Water in, 500 °C steam out - depending on crafting speed
- Both fluid boxes pass through, so machines can be chained without pipes between them.
- Steam output is not multiplied by productivity.
- Get rid of the steam either way:
- Steam turbine — needs a
pumpbetween furnace and turbine (workaround; The pump fixes the different fluids bug) - Steam condensation in a chemical plant — returns 90 water per 1000 steam. The mod unlocks this recipe with its own technology, so it is available without Vulcanus.
- Fresh water supply stays mandatory in both cases.
Recipes
With the cooling loop on, the mod auto-generates a water-cooled nuclear-smelting variant of every electric furnace recipe. Variants copy the original 1:1 and only add water + steam. Ingredient amounts, result amounts and craft times are unchanged. Each variant is unlocked by the same technology as its original. Recipes that already use a fluid are skipped.
Technology
Nuclear furnace — 1000 × (automation + logistic + chemical + production + utility), 60 s.
Prerequisites: Advanced material processing 2, Nuclear power, Utility science pack, Production science pack.
Crafted from: 1 nuclear reactor, 2 electric furnaces, 50 processing units, 100 steel plate, 20 heat pipes, 100 concrete.
Settings (startup)
| Setting | Default | Range |
|---|---|---|
| Cooling loop | on | on / off |
| Crafting speed | 4 | 3 – 10 |
| Module slots | 4 | none – 8 |
| Base productivity | +50% | none – +100% |
| Cheaper recipe | off | on / off |
| Cheaper technology | off | on / off |
Cheaper recipe / Cheaper technology
Both are aimed at Space Age, where the nuclear furnace competes with the foundry and the default costs land late enough to make it a hard sell. They work in the base game just as well.
Compatibility
Factorio 2.1. Space Age optional (adds heating on Aquilo and lets the foundry build it). Modded smelting recipes are picked up automatically.
AI
Mod concept & design by Morlot.
Implementation developed with the help of Claude (AI assistant by Anthropic).