# Nuclear power without stored uranium waste

> Canonical source: [Nuclear power without stored uranium waste](https://satisfactorybase.com/guides/nuclear-power-without-waste)
> Language: en

Turn uranium waste into plutonium fuel rods and sink the rods, or continue to Ficsonium later. Plan the branches before starting your reactors.


## Goal

A [Nuclear Power Plant](/wiki/buildings/nuclear-power-plant) running on [Uranium Fuel Rods](/wiki/items/uranium-fuel-rod) produces [Uranium Waste](/wiki/items/uranium-waste). Waste has no AWESOME Sink value. The useful outlet is a processing line that turns it into [Plutonium Fuel Rods](/wiki/items/plutonium-fuel-rod): those rods **can** go into the [AWESOME Sink](/guides/awesome-sink). Keep the plutonium rods out of your power plants if you want to avoid creating [Plutonium Waste](/wiki/items/plutonium-waste).

This route becomes available through **Nuclear Power** and **Particle Enrichment** in Tier 8. [Ficsonium Fuel Rods](/wiki/items/ficsonium-fuel-rod) belong to the later **Peak Efficiency** milestone in Tier 9. The plutonium-sink route therefore lets you run nuclear power before building a Ficsonium chain.

## Before you build

- Find [Uranium](/wiki/items/uranium) on the [resource map](/map), then choose a site with room for reactors, water supply and a separate waste-processing line. Check your game's node output and belt capacity before choosing a target rate.
- Unlock the uranium fuel and plutonium processing recipes. The [recipe catalog](/wiki/recipes) shows each machine and its inputs. Alternate recipes require their own research; [planned recipes](/guides/alternate-recipes) in SFB do not unlock them in the game.
- Set aside storage capacity for startup and interruptions. Do not let a full waste belt stop the reactors while you are commissioning the processing line.

## Build the loop

1. Make [Encased Uranium Cells](/wiki/items/encased-uranium-cell), then [Uranium Fuel Rods](/wiki/recipes/recipe-nuclearfuelrod-c). Feed the rods and water to the [Nuclear Power Plants](/wiki/buildings/nuclear-power-plant).
2. Take the output waste to [Non-Fissile Uranium](/wiki/recipes/recipe-nonfissileuranium-c). Continue through [Plutonium Pellets](/wiki/recipes/recipe-plutonium-c), [Encased Plutonium Cells](/wiki/recipes/recipe-plutoniumcell-c) and [Plutonium Fuel Rods](/wiki/recipes/recipe-plutoniumfuelrod-c). These steps need additional materials and powered machines; uranium waste alone is not enough.
3. Send the finished plutonium rods to the [AWESOME Sink](/guides/awesome-sink). A separate belt makes the destination easy to inspect. Make sure every intermediate product and fluid has an outlet, including the water returned by the Non-Fissile Uranium recipe.
4. Start with a modest clock or reactor count. Watch the waste input, intermediate buffers and sink belt until the line runs continuously, then expand both generation and processing together.

## Tips for recipes and later upgrades

[Infused Uranium Cell](/wiki/recipes/recipe-alternate-uraniumcell-1-c) uses sulfur, silica and quickwire instead of the standard cell recipe's concrete and sulfuric acid. [Uranium Fuel Unit](/wiki/recipes/recipe-alternate-nuclearfuelrod-1-c) changes the fuel-rod inputs and raises rod output per Manufacturer. The plutonium alternatives, [Instant Plutonium Cell](/wiki/recipes/recipe-alternate-instantplutoniumcell-c) and [Plutonium Fuel Unit](/wiki/recipes/recipe-alternate-plutoniumfuelunit-c), change the machine and material demands again. Compare complete input chains in [Calc](/calc); a recipe that makes more rods from the same intermediate is not automatically the best way to dispose of a fixed waste stream.

When Peak Efficiency is unlocked, you can instead process [Plutonium Waste](/wiki/items/plutonium-waste) into [Ficsonium](/wiki/recipes/recipe-ficsonium-c) and [Ficsonium Fuel Rods](/wiki/recipes/recipe-ficsoniumfuelrod-c). That route is useful if you choose to **burn** plutonium rods for more power. It adds a later and more demanding production chain. Keep the sink route if your priority is a simpler outlet for uranium waste.

## Source

Based on [Overclocked's video, *The Nuclear Power Solution Satisfactory Doesn't Tell You About !*](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZHqCQtUhJcY), published 23 January 2026. The video description names Satisfactory 1.1 and 1.2; its exact recording build is unspecified. Item, recipe and milestone details here were checked against SatisfactoryBase's 1.2.4.0 game catalog.


- [Nuclear Power Plant](/wiki/buildings/nuclear-power-plant)

- [Uranium Waste](/wiki/items/uranium-waste)

- [Plutonium Fuel Rod](/wiki/items/plutonium-fuel-rod)

- [Alternate recipes](/guides/alternate-recipes)

- [Resource map](/map)