Strange Uranium consumption
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greekdim
- Warrant Officer
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Strange Uranium consumption
I play a sandbox game of cold war where I have an uranium production 0f 72000 kg and a consumption of aprox. 78000 kg. Minister is responsible for the production of the nuclear and conventional missiles. The problem is that the nuclear plants consume only 7800 kg while the rest is consumed for "construction. What could be this "construction"? I don't have yet nuclear units (like submarines) and the minister produces only conventional missiles (but I have nuclear missiles in inventory). If it was for military purpose shouldn't be referred as "military" as it does for the military goods? I would really appreciate if someone could give me an answer, thank you.
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YoMomma
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Re: Strange Uranium consumption
Construction under uranium tab means units, maybe an escort ship you are producing? I know some UK and US designs who use uranium, maybe Russian. Sharing your save game might help.
Uranium consumption for units is way out of proportion. I think instead of total build time it consumes that uranium EVERY day to build that unit. In 2020 scenrios it is basicly another obsolete resource, only usefull to experienced players who can handle uranium. Uranium power plants are totally useless for the ai without specific mods that handle this issue. Strange thing i cant seem to get anyone understand the issue, even the devs. It's been like this from the beginning of SRU.
Uranium consumption for units is way out of proportion. I think instead of total build time it consumes that uranium EVERY day to build that unit. In 2020 scenrios it is basicly another obsolete resource, only usefull to experienced players who can handle uranium. Uranium power plants are totally useless for the ai without specific mods that handle this issue. Strange thing i cant seem to get anyone understand the issue, even the devs. It's been like this from the beginning of SRU.
Gameplay 1st
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greekdim
- Warrant Officer
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- Joined: Mar 24 2011
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Re: Strange Uranium consumption
Thank you for the reply and sorry for the false alarm. I didn't noticed that nautilus sub design was a nuclear one. After I cancelled every sub construction the only consumption I had was that of the nuclear plants. I just didn't realize that US had a nuclear sub since 50's! In any case, if "military" instead of "construction" had been used I think it would be much more clear to understand it. For the rest I have noticed the exaggerated use of uranium too...thanks again for your answer!
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Nerei
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Re: Strange Uranium consumption
Just a quick note but given that what the game calls uranium is probably Yellowcake and definitely not enriched uranium the consumption for warship construction might not be as crazy as it initially might appear to be.
Assuming it is 85% uranium yellowcake a Virginia class submarine only has around 6400kg of fuel in its reactor and contains about the same amount of U235 (the isotope that matters for energy production) as a typical boiling water reactor. It does not right away strike me as completely insane or anything like that.
I am not saying that all the values are right. For one I find it unlikely that a Gerald R. Ford or Nimitz class aircraft carrier require the same amount of fuel as a Virginia class submarine when the expected lifetime for an aircraft carrier reactor is somewhere around 25 years and the Virginia has 33 years yet the aircraft carriers have a much higher energy need.
For nuclear weapons though it is completely insane. As an example the uranium required to produce a minuteman ICBM is about 10 times the total weight of the missile and would allow the production of something along the lines of 4-5 times the entire weight of the W87 warhead it uses of weapons grade uranium.
For the record a modern day warhead typically use a few kilogram of Pu-239 fissile material to ignite a fusion reaction usually in lithium deuteride fuel. If making a boosted fission weapon the very common U238 also works great as it is a great neutron reflector anyway. Pu-239 is also made from U238 in a reactor so again except for the reactor to produce the plutonium not much need for uranium enrichment.
The representation as a whole of the production of nuclear weapons, nuclear powered warships and for the most part nuclear power generation unless we assume everything is heavy water reactors is not very good and to me overly abstract.
I actually have several pages written down about this that I was planning on posting some time ago but I never got around to doing it.
In the 1950's you got the first nuclear powered warship in the USS Nautilus, the first modern (as in optimised for underwater performance) attack submarine in the USS Skipjack, the first nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine in the USS George Washington. By the early 1960's you also got the first nuclear powered surface warship the USS Long Beach and the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier the USS Enterprise.
Assuming it is 85% uranium yellowcake a Virginia class submarine only has around 6400kg of fuel in its reactor and contains about the same amount of U235 (the isotope that matters for energy production) as a typical boiling water reactor. It does not right away strike me as completely insane or anything like that.
I am not saying that all the values are right. For one I find it unlikely that a Gerald R. Ford or Nimitz class aircraft carrier require the same amount of fuel as a Virginia class submarine when the expected lifetime for an aircraft carrier reactor is somewhere around 25 years and the Virginia has 33 years yet the aircraft carriers have a much higher energy need.
For nuclear weapons though it is completely insane. As an example the uranium required to produce a minuteman ICBM is about 10 times the total weight of the missile and would allow the production of something along the lines of 4-5 times the entire weight of the W87 warhead it uses of weapons grade uranium.
For the record a modern day warhead typically use a few kilogram of Pu-239 fissile material to ignite a fusion reaction usually in lithium deuteride fuel. If making a boosted fission weapon the very common U238 also works great as it is a great neutron reflector anyway. Pu-239 is also made from U238 in a reactor so again except for the reactor to produce the plutonium not much need for uranium enrichment.
The representation as a whole of the production of nuclear weapons, nuclear powered warships and for the most part nuclear power generation unless we assume everything is heavy water reactors is not very good and to me overly abstract.
I actually have several pages written down about this that I was planning on posting some time ago but I never got around to doing it.
In the 1950's you got the first nuclear powered warship in the USS Nautilus, the first modern (as in optimised for underwater performance) attack submarine in the USS Skipjack, the first nuclear powered ballistic missile submarine in the USS George Washington. By the early 1960's you also got the first nuclear powered surface warship the USS Long Beach and the first nuclear powered aircraft carrier the USS Enterprise.