RT Generator
The radioisotope thermoelectric (RT) generator is a small generated powered by RTG pellets, which can vary in HE outputs. It doesn't produce a lot of power, but it is consistent and safe so long as you are wearing PPE when handling the RTG Pellets
Recipe
The RT generator can be assembled in the assembly machine with the following recipe:
Usage
The heat/energy output of each pellet inserted accumulates to a maximum heat level of 600, resulting in the maximum power generation being 60 kHE/s. It has no battery slot, so it must be put adjacent to an energy storage block or put directly on your power grid to be utilized.
Radioactive Decay
If enabled in the config, each of the RTG pellets decay into lighter elements after a certain amount of time. Most common ones like plutonium-238 or actinium-227 have very long half-lives and may last virtually indefinitely, even when constantly running. More radioactive RTG pellets have shorter half-lives and thus decay faster while the even less radioactive variants decay even slower. While most of the decayed RTG pellet variants are not useful, simply decaying into lead, there are two exceptions: lead-209 pellets decay into bismuth, which can be recycled and turned into three bismuth billets and the less common strontium-90 pellets decay into zirconium pellets, which can recycled into three zirconium billets. The resulting bismuth or zirconium can be used for various items and tools.
Other Variants
There are two other versions of the RT Generator and they work in a unique way compared to the normal version. The PT Isotope Cell and the Radio Isotope Cell do not use RTG pellets to produce energy. In fact, they do not have a UI at all. Instead, these versions use the radioactive materials used to craft them to produce energy.
Radio Isotope Cell
The radio-isotope cell generates a relatively small amount of energy forever. It is a weaker, but more mobile version of the RT Generator, as it does not need RTG pellets to be moved around when relocating this generator, as it has no GUI to swap out fuel. Since it has 3 Pu-238 billets, it produces the same amount of power as 1 Pu-238 RTG pellet. However, it has the advantage of not using the decay mechanic, since it has no GUI to make that reasonably possible, so it will never run out of energy.
It can be crafted in the crafting table with the following recipe:
PT Isotope Cell
The polonium-tennessine isotope cell is similar to the radio-isotope cell in that its fuel is self-contained, has no GUI, and never decays despite the very low half-lives of the fuel.
It will consistently and constantly produce 2,500 HE/t. It is an ideal passive energy generator for players who already have a cyclotron, as it produces substantially more power than either the main RTG, which will eventually run out of its fuel and as a fairly low heat capacity, and the radio-isotope cell, which is just a much weaker but portable version of the former.
It can be crafted in the crafting table with the following recipe:
