As of 1.5, near-depleted uranium cells cannot be crafted anymore. (I found out the hard way) This "balance" change, coupled with huge thorium nerf, makes breeder reactors absolutely useless. And as a result of that, having nuclear reactors as the main source of power is pretty much impossible, as it would require more uranium that can be actually mined. What I'm suggesting is that crafting of the near-depleted uranium cells should be re-enabled, to reduce extreme nerf of reactor power a bit, so there are more ways to go when powering a base.
Or, and this is just a suggestion; if you're not going to use a renewable resource like steam perhaps invest in power storage or use power only when you're actually doing work.
Of course I'm not going to waste produced energy. There are certain machines that require a lot of it, and investing more in power storage isn't going to help, because I need more power generation.
Then perhaps is time to look at better power generation, the reason most people use stem is it's cost effective, lossless, energy that can be converted on site for machines, and unlike nuclear reactors meant to be renewable. MFR offers the best source of fuel in my opinion all you need is a few MRF farms to start with feeding in to bio-reactors to produce fuel for boilers. Farms can be as big or as small as you like; you could even run it off one farm. But I found mixing mods more effective, so I use 9 farms 9x9. Steam to MJ seems to have the best conversion, however steam to EU should be able to supply what you need till you have a fusion. (Running GT machines off MJ is a waste) At most you should only need 8 36 HP boilers, 9 9x9 farms can power 8 bio-reactors which can supply 2 boilers each, so if you feel you need more power for quarries you have room to expand. 1 power converter setup can power 2 quarries (4 if setup correctly) I recommend 1 power convert setup per 2 quarries as this will keep them going at max speed. If you're not in to AE yet I suggest you look in to it to process your ores (Level emiters for rubies as ou'll need rubies for other things along the way.) I have found that if you setup your automation as soon as possible you only use power in spurts rather than doing bulk processing like you initially might do after a mining run. Thus enabling you to gather more resources for power gen if you refuse to give up nukes.
That's exactly what I was trying to say. Current situation is indirectly forcing me to use other ways of power generation, because they are far more effective. I like designing my nukers and using couple of them to supply all the power I need for quarries and all the other things. Until 1.5, each reactor could produce more power than it needed to keep itself online and produce power on the side, but now it appears to not be the case, because power required to mine enough uranium is FAR higher than it used to be. It is both caused by breeders having to use uranium (because of thorium nerf) and near-depleted cells not being craftable. (major issue) It's not going to make reactors overpowered at all, gregtech takes care of that. This change is just going to increase reactor usefulness closer to the levels of other means of power generation. There would be more variety for players, and those that want to go a different way would not be punished for it.
I agree on enabling it, for the reason that steam is becoming like solars. Everyone and their brother is using it. I will bring it up with the rest of the Modpack team.
