Uranium Fuel Cycle, Ammo, Atomic Bomb Guide

Unlock the uranium chain in the right order

If your power setup is starting to feel tight, your tank needs better ammo, or you want late-game nuclear firepower, the uranium chain is what turns rare ore into a stronger advantage. Start by getting Uranium processing online, because everything else depends on being able to separate Uranium ore into Uranium-235 and Uranium-238. After that, decide what you want first: better combat ammo, portable fuel, recycling, or atomic weapons. Don’t try to research and build every branch at once.

The most practical order is:

1. Uranium processing
2. Then your first goal branch:
   • Uranium ammo if you want tank firepower,
   • Kovarex enrichment process if you want a sustainable isotope loop,
   • Nuclear fuel reprocessing if you are already using reactors,
   • Atomic bomb only when you are ready to spend Uranium-235 aggressively.

That order keeps you from stalling on the most valuable bottleneck in the chain: Uranium-235.

Set up uranium mining and feed the centrifuges

Uranium starts with the ore patch, but it does not behave like normal mining. You need electric mining drills fed with sulfuric acid at a rate of 10 sulfuric acid per 10 ore mined. You cannot mine Uranium ore by hand, and you cannot use burner mining drills, so build your outpost around fluid delivery from the start.

Bring the ore back to a dedicated processing area and treat the Centrifuge as the center of your nuclear industry. That machine handles all uranium-related processing and nuclear fuel reprocessing, so it is worth building your layout around it instead of scattering uranium recipes across the base.

Here is the core reference for the chain:

This is the point where your setup gets much easier if you keep the ore input simple and the output sorting strict. Route Uranium-235 into one buffer and Uranium-238 into another. If you let them mix, you will make the next step harder than it needs to be.

Solve the Uranium-235 bottleneck before you scale up

The first batch of Uranium processing gives you both isotopes, but Uranium-235 is the rare one. That means your biggest mistake is spending it too early. Don’t burn your first stockpile on every unlocked recipe. Hold it back until you can start Kovarex enrichment process, because that is what turns a tiny trickle into a loop that can support real production.

Kovarex enrichment process takes Uranium-235×40 and Uranium-238×5 and returns Uranium-235×41 and Uranium-238×2. In practice, you seed the machine with enough Uranium-235, then let the excess output keep the process going. Once that is running, you can reserve the extra Uranium-235 for high-value uses instead of starving the enrichment line.

Set up your Centrifuge output handling so the enrichment feed is stable before you branch into anything expensive. If your stockpile is too small, wait. The uranium economy gets better once Kovarex enrichment process is self-feeding, and that is the point where you can stop treating Uranium-235 like a precious emergency reserve.

Turn uranium into fuel, ammo, or bomb material

Once the isotope loop is stable, split your output by purpose. Use Uranium-235 for the things that are hardest to replace, and use Uranium-238 for the bulk upgrades.

For mobility and logistics, make Nuclear fuel in the Centrifuge from Uranium-235×1 and Rocket fuel×1. It contains 1.21 GJ of energy per item, stacks to 1, and gives vehicles a large acceleration bonus and a substantial top speed bonus. It is a strong single-item fuel for concentrated bursts of travel, but it is not usable in a Nuclear reactor, so do not confuse it with reactor fuel.

For ground combat, spend Uranium-238 first. Uranium rounds magazine upgrades Piercing rounds magazine×1 with Uranium-238×1. Uranium cannon shell upgrades Cannon shell×1 with Uranium-238×1, and Explosive uranium cannon shell upgrades Explosive cannon shell×1 with Uranium-238×1. These are the clean way to improve tank damage without touching your scarce Uranium-235 reserve.

For late-game offense, Atomic bomb is the expensive option. It takes Processing unit×10, Explosives×10, and Uranium-235×30. Build it only when you mean to use it. It is alternative ammunition for the rocket launcher, rocket turret, and spidertron, and it should be fired from a great distance.

A good rule is simple: use Uranium-238 to upgrade your regular combat stockpile, and save Uranium-235 for Nuclear fuel, Kovarex enrichment process, and Atomic bomb.

Reprocess spent fuel and plan the long game

If you are running reactors, add Nuclear fuel reprocessing early. A depleted uranium fuel cell is produced when a uranium fuel cell is burned in nuclear reactors, and Nuclear fuel reprocessing turns Depleted uranium fuel cell×5 into Uranium-238×3. That means your reactor setup does not have to dead-end into waste. You recover material, keep your Uranium-238 supply moving, and make your nuclear area cleaner and more sustainable.

This is especially important because the Centrifuge handles both the creation of advanced fuel and the recovery of material from used fuel. If you are already investing in reactors, reprocessing belongs in the plan early, not as an afterthought.

One more long-game consideration matters in Space Age: Nauvis is the only planet with uranium. That makes your uranium setup a Nauvis-only supply chain, so it is worth designing it efficiently and self-contained before you lean on it heavily.