Uranium-238 — Factorio Production Calculator
Uranium-238 is crafted in the centrifuge in 60 seconds, producing 3 per craft from 5 × Depleted uranium fuel cell. At 60 per minute you need 20 centrifuges, and the chain behind it draws on 1 raw resources: depleted uranium fuel cell.
Production chain for 60 Uranium-238 / minute
| Item | Per minute | Machines | Machine |
|---|---|---|---|
| Uranium-238 | 60 | 20 | Centrifuge |
Raw materials
| Resource | Per minute |
|---|---|
| Depleted uranium fuel cell | 100 |
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.
Uranium-238 recipe
| Machine | Crafting time | Output | Ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
| Centrifuge | 60 s | 3 | Depleted uranium fuel cell × 5 |
What the whole chain needs
This recipe has no intermediate steps: every ingredient is a raw resource, so the chain is a single machine block fed straight from mining or pumpjacks. At 60 per minute that is 20 machines and nothing else to build.
Belt check: the busiest input here moves 100 per minute, which is 0.11 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 uranium-238
4 base-game recipes consume uranium-238, sorted by how much each one takes:
- Uranium fuel cell — 19 per craft
- Explosive uranium cannon shell — 1 per craft
- Uranium cannon shell — 1 per craft
- Uranium rounds magazine — 1 per craft
FAQ
How many centrifuges do I need for 60 uranium-238s per minute?
20 centrifuges. One at standard speed produces 3 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 uranium-238 take?
At 60/min the chain consumes 100 depleted uranium fuel cell per minute. Those numbers are the theoretical minimum — mining productivity research and productivity modules both reduce them.
Is uranium-238 needed for science packs?
Not directly. It feeds Uranium fuel cell and Explosive uranium cannon shell, and those in turn feed the science packs. Open the science pack page to see the demand that lands on this recipe.
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.