You're standing at a chemistry station in Sanctuary, staring at the screen, and you're one glowing green chunk short of that Sight Glass or the Overdrive shot you desperately need. It’s annoying. Fallout 4 nuclear material is one of those mid-to-late game bottlenecks that feels like it should be everywhere—given the world literally ended in a rain of nukes—but somehow remains incredibly elusive when you're actually looking for it. Most players end up wandering aimlessly through the Commonwealth hoping a Suicider crosses their path, but there’s a much more methodical way to handle the scarcity.
It’s basically the lifeblood of high-tech crafting. If you want to mess with plasma weapons, build high-tier power armor mods, or set up those fancy Vault-Tec generators that actually power a whole settlement without making a deafening racket, you need this stuff. And honestly? You’re probably walking right past it half the time because you’re looking for "Nuclear Material" instead of looking for the junk that contains it.
Where the Glow Is Hiding
You’ve gotta stop thinking about mining and start thinking about scavenging. The Commonwealth is a graveyard of pre-war tech. The most reliable source for a steady supply isn't actually a location; it's a habit. You need to keep an eye out for Blast Radius Board Games. They’re everywhere. In toy stores, ruined houses, and randomly on shelves in office buildings. Each one gives you one unit of nuclear material. It’s light, it’s easy to carry, and it’s the most consistent "natural" spawn in the game.
Then there are the high-powered magnets. Most people grab these for the copper or steel, but they are a sleeper hit for nuclear components.
Don't overlook the humble Alarm Clock. Specifically the "Vault-Tec Alarm Clock." Regular ones won't do it, but the Vault-Tec branded ones are packed with the good stuff. Why? Because in the Fallout universe, everything was powered by mini-reactors or radioactive isotopes. Even the timepieces. It’s a bit grim when you think about people sleeping next to a ticking lump of uranium, but hey, it’s great for your Gauss Rifle upgrades.
The Radscorpion Problem
If you’re feeling brave or just happen to be wandering near the Glowing Sea, Radscorpions are your best friends. Or worst enemies. Whatever. When you kill a Radscorpion, they almost always drop Radscorpion Stingers. When you break those down at a workshop, you get nuclear material. It’s a weird biological quirk of the post-war world. The same goes for Ichor Curved Horns from those massive, terrifying Fog Crawlers if you have the Far Harbor DLC installed.
Hunting is a viable strategy, but it's risky. One missed VATS shot and you're the one being harvested.
Making Your Own Luck with Plasma
Here is the "pro-tip" that most people ignore until their second or third playthrough. If you kill an enemy with a plasma weapon, there is a very high chance they will turn into a pile of green goo. This isn't just a cool visual effect. When you loot that "Goo Pile," it frequently contains nuclear material.
✨ Don't miss: Gen 1 Psychic Pokemon: Why Sabrina Was Actually Cheating
It’s essentially a self-sustaining loop.
Use plasma.
Liquefy Raiders.
Collect the nuclear residue from their melted remains.
Use that residue to craft more plasma cartridges or upgrade your plasma thrower.
Repeat until the Commonwealth is a slightly cleaner, albeit gooier, place.
If you’re struggling to find a plasma weapon early, head over to Diamond City Surplus. Myrna usually has a basic plasma pistol or rifle for sale. Even a crappy one works. You just need that "Goo" trigger to happen.
Locations You Should Actually Visit
Don't just wander. Some places are objectively better for a loot run.
The Federal Surveillance Center K-8P. It’s tucked away under an abandoned shack in the Glowing Sea. If you can stomach the radiation (bring a hazmat suit or a lot of Rad-X), the place is a goldmine for high-tech junk. You’ll find sensors, circuit boards, and plenty of items that scrap down into nuclear material.
Wilson Atomatoys Corporate HQ. This place is a nightmare of Super Mutants, but it’s packed with Blast Radius board games and "Giddyup Buttercup" parts. While the horse parts are mostly for gears and springs, the office areas have a high concentration of the specific electronics we’re after.
Vault 88. If you have the Vault-Tec Workshop DLC, this is the jackpot. When you're clearing out the limestone and debris in the various sectors of the cave, you'll find actual Uranium deposits. Scraping these while in workshop mode gives you a massive infusion of nuclear material. We’re talking dozens and dozens of units. It’s the closest thing the game has to a "cheat code" for crafting materials without actually using the console.
Buying Your Way Out of the Grind
Sometimes you’re just tired of looking. I get it. If you have the caps, you can just buy shipments.
- Alexis Combes in Vault 81 sells shipments of 25.
- Proctor Teagan on the Prydwen (if you haven't blown it up) usually has them.
- Daisy in Goodneighbor is another reliable source for high-end junk.
It’s expensive. A shipment of 25 can run you several hundred caps depending on your Charisma and Barter perks. But if you're trying to build a reactor for a settlement that's being raided every five minutes, it’s worth the investment.
Scrapper Perk: The Game Changer
If you haven't put points into the Scrapper perk (Intelligence 5), you're making the game twice as hard for yourself. At rank 2, Scrapper lets you get uncommon components—like nuclear material—when you scrap weapons and armor with mods on them.
Think about all those "Hardened Piercing Sniper Rifles" or "Boosted Gamma Guns" you leave on dead enemies because they weigh 15 pounds and aren't worth much to sell. If you have Scrapper Rank 2, those are actually mobile containers of nuclear material. Pick them up. Take them to a weapon workbench. Scrap them. You’ll be swimming in materials in no time.
It also highlights items containing the materials you've "tagged" for search. When you're in a dark ruin and a desk fan or a toy car starts glowing because it has a component you need? That’s the Scrapper perk saving you twenty minutes of squinting at the floor.
Practical Steps for Maximum Yield
Stop leaving items behind because they look "worthless." In Fallout 4, value isn't about the cap price; it's about the atomic makeup.
- Tag for Search: Go into your junk tab in the Pip-Boy, switch to "Component View," and tag Nuclear Material. Now, any item in the world containing it will have a magnifying glass icon next to its name.
- The "Goo" Method: Carry a plasma sidearm. Even if your main build is melee or ballistics, use the plasma for the killing blow on "trash mobs" like Feral Ghouls or Mole Rats to farm those goo piles.
- Visit the Toy Stores: Milton General Hospital and the surrounding shops are surprisingly good for board games.
- Scrap Everything in Vault 88: If you own the DLC, do not ignore the "Clear the Debris" quests. Those yellow glowing rocks are your best friend.
- Check the Basements: Old pre-war bunkers almost always have a "distress pulsar" or some kind of high-tech relay that scraps down into exactly what you need.
Focus on the small things. A glowing board game here, a high-tech magnet there, and suddenly you aren't worried about the cost of that next suit of X-01 Mk. VI power armor. The Commonwealth is full of radioactive trash. You just have to know which trash is worth the inventory space.