Nuclear reactor — Factorio Production Calculator
Nuclear reactor is crafted in the assembling machine in 8 seconds, producing 1 per craft from 500 × Concrete, 500 × Steel plate, 500 × Advanced circuit, 500 × Copper plate. At 60 per minute you need 16 assembling machines, and the chain behind it draws on 6 raw resources: petroleum gas, water, iron ore, copper ore, stone, coal.
Production chain for 60 Nuclear reactor / minute
| Item | Per minute | Machines | Machine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copper cable | 300,000 | 2,500 | Assembling machine |
| Iron plate | 210,000 | 11,200 | Furnace |
| Copper plate | 180,000 | 9,600 | Furnace |
| Electronic circuit | 60,000 | 1,000 | Assembling machine |
| Plastic bar | 60,000 | 500 | Chemical plant |
| Concrete | 30,000 | 1,000 | Assembling machine |
| Steel plate | 30,000 | 8,000 | Furnace |
| Advanced circuit | 30,000 | 6,000 | Assembling machine |
| Stone brick | 15,000 | 800 | Furnace |
| Nuclear reactor | 60 | 16 | Assembling machine |
Raw materials
| Resource | Per minute |
|---|---|
| Petroleum gas | 600,000 |
| Water | 300,000 |
| Iron ore | 213,000 |
| Copper ore | 180,000 |
| Stone | 30,000 |
| Coal | 30,000 |
Machine counts are not rounded up. Add a little headroom in game — belt throughput and inserter speed usually mean you want 5-10% more than the exact number.
Nuclear reactor recipe
| Machine | Crafting time | Output | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Assembling machine | 8 s | 1 | Concrete × 500, Steel plate × 500, Advanced circuit × 500, Copper plate × 500 |
What the whole chain needs
60 nuclear reactors per minute pulls in 9 intermediate products, and the whole tree comes to 40,616 machines across 3 machine types, fed by 6 raw resources. The table above already sums demand across every branch — if copper cable is used by two recipes, you see the total, not one of them.
Belt check: the busiest input here moves 600,000 per minute, which is 666.67 of a yellow belt's 900 per minute. Above 1.0 and you need a second belt (or a faster tier) before the machines themselves become the limit.
What uses nuclear reactor
No base-game recipe consumes nuclear reactor — it is an end product. Once you build it, the chain stops here, which makes it a good target if you only want to size the sub-factory that feeds your mall.
What nuclear reactor is made from
- Concrete — 500 per craft
- Steel plate — 500 per craft
- Advanced circuit — 500 per craft
- Copper plate — 500 per craft
FAQ
How many assembling machines do I need for 60 nuclear reactors per minute?
16 assembling machines. One at standard speed produces 3.8 per minute, so 60 ÷ that number is the count. The calculator above rounds nothing — add 5-10% headroom for belt and inserter losses in a real factory.
How much raw ore does nuclear reactor take?
At 60/min the chain consumes 600,000 petroleum gas per minute, 300,000 water per minute, 213,000 iron ore per minute and 3 more. Those numbers are the theoretical minimum — mining productivity research and productivity modules both reduce them.
Machine counts assume bare machines at standard speed. Recipe data comes from the game's own prototypes (PlayerCalc, Factorio 2.0 base game). Not affiliated with Wube Software.