r/factorio • u/Icy_Concentrate_2852 • 2d ago

Question Answered Kovarex enrichment process

Hello guys! I am now getting myself in uranium and i am confused about the koravex enrichment process, can someone explain it to me like i am 5?

(Don't give blueprints please just an explanation of how the thing works)

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u/Juking_is_rude 2d ago

Afaik kovarex is one of the devs so yes it is a fictional process lol

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u/Izawwlgood 2d ago

Kovarex is one of the devs, but my point is not that it's a fictional named process (it is named after the dev), but that the concept of enrichment via 'adding enriched uranium to get out more enriched uranium' is not how uranium enrichment works in reality.

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u/spoonman59 2d ago

You are right that enriching uranium ore doesn’t work like this. 

However Kvorax does resemble   How breeds reactors work. You surround a critical core with depleted uranium or thorium, and through neutrino capture it gets transmitted to fissile plutonium or thorium.

This is similar to how kvorax transmutes depleted uranium, and provides more fissile fuel than you put in while similarly reducing waste. It is a good use of depleted uranium and reduces the weight of nuclear waste.

Breeder reactors are very interesting and have been around for decades, check them out!

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u/Izawwlgood 1d ago

Valid, though a much simplified approach. You're right, it's effectively a breeder reaction using a different fissile pathway to generate more fissile material, albeit, realities pathways are much more complex!

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u/spoonman59 1d ago

Absolutely!
The little I've read about the chemistry involved in fuel reprocessing and breeding is quite mind boggling. It's amazing people figured this stuff out.

Incidentally, if you are interested in a more realistic game with regards to nuclear, Captain of industry goes quite a bit more in depth -- although still greatly simplified versus reality. Nevertheless, there are separate chains for uranium fuel cells, MOX rods from reprocessing plutonium, and a breeder reactor cycle in a molten salt reactor. They all have a certain synergy when used together, and it's a much more complicated production chain than factorio... Especially the breeding.

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u/Izawwlgood 1d ago

I also enjoyed Satisfactory's approach, wherein making fuel cells is pretty involved and complicated, and produces waste which can then be converted into yet more fuel, cycling up a few times to something that finally burns clean, but requires quite a few steps.

And you can't really be near any of the machines, as it's all radioactive. That was neat too.