Mako Reactor The Mako Reactors , called Makoro Plants in a demo release , are giant reactors created by Shinra Electric Power Company in " Final Fantasy VII " . The reactors are machines built to forcibly extract the Lifestream from the earth and process it into Mako energy . Because Mako energy is efficient in comparison to other fuels used at the time ( implied to be coal and oil in the " Compilation of Final Fantasy VII " ) , and Mako Reactors can be built almost anywhere , Mako allows Shinra to acquire a monopoly on electricity production and almost rule the world . Story . The Mako Reactors were designed by Reeve Tuesti several years prior to " Final Fantasy VII " . It is unknown when the reactors were designed , but in " " , Rufus Shinra mentions Mako energy has been in production for over forty years . This coincides with Mako being used in the Jenova Project , as Jenova was discovered thirty years prior to the beginning of " Final Fantasy VII " . According to the novella " On the Way to a Smile : Case of Barret " , the Lifestream ' s flow has changed since the coming of Meteor , and the Mako Reactors can no longer access it and produce Mako . The reactors have been shut down since people feel indebted to the Lifestream for saving them . Small bits of Mako remain in the reactors , which are used by the Midgar survivors to build Edge near the city ' s ruins . In " Dirge of Cerberus - Final Fantasy VII - " , Reeve and the World Regenesis Organization destroy the reactors to prevent Omega from drawing the Lifestream through them . Known reactors . Midgar reactors . A total of nine reactors were built in Midgar : eight surrounding the city , one for each sector , and one underground to power the Shinra Headquarters and the base of Deepground . In the opening events of " Final Fantasy VII " , AVALANCHE blows up the Sector 1 Reactor causing a brief power cut . AVALANCHE later bombs the Sector 5 Reactor even though Shinra had anticipated the attack and brought reinforcements . Despite the bombings the Sector 5 Reactor is later seen working , implying it was repaired , while the Sector 1 Reactor is left destroyed . Later , the Sister Ray is moved to Midgar . Without Huge Materia from Junon to power the cannon , the Sister Ray is connected to the eight Mako Reactors surrounding the city though the Sector 1 Reactor is still in shambles . When then cannon fires , putting Midgar into a temporary blackout , it destroys Diamond Weapon and pierces the barrier Sephiroth has erected over the North Crater . Professor Hojo takes control of the cannon to overload it and fire again to give Sephiroth more Mako . Through AVALANCHE ' s intervention Hojo is killed and the cannon shut down . The Mako reactors continue to be used until Meteor arrives . Fort Condor Reactor . A large condor lives atop the reactor . The condor appears dormant , protecting its eggs , and both it and the reactor are protected by rebels living in the fort . The bird ' s presence interferes with Shinra ' s attempts to retrieve a Huge Materia from within the reactor , and they repeatedly attempt to remove it and defeat the rebels held up in the fort . In " Final Fantasy VII " there is a minigame to combat Shinra and save the condor , after which it dies and the egg hatches into a chick , along with the Phoenix Materia . A Huge Materia is also found here . Corel Reactor . The Corel reactor is located near the coal mining town of Corel . Several years before the " Final Fantasy VII " Shinra executives convinced the townspeople ( including Barret Wallace ) to sell their coal - mine to the company and allow the reactor ' s construction . At some point after the construction Shinra burned Corel down in response to a terrorist attack on the reactor . The Gold Saucer theme - park was constructed above the ruins of Corel . With nowhere to go the survivors built a shanty town they named North Corel . This event is critical to several sub - stories in " Final Fantasy VII " . A Huge Materia is produced in the reactor and transported by train to North Corel . Junon Underwater Reactor . The Junon reactor is the only underwater reactor . It has a submarine dock , and can be accessed from ground level by an elevator . A Huge Materia is taken from here by submarine . Gongaga Reactor . The reactor was installed near the small town of Gongaga , but an accident caused an explosion killing many of the villagers . The Titan Summon Materia can be found in the ruins . Nibel Reactor . The first reactor created by Shinra , the Mt . Nibel reactor , holds many secrets . It housed a chamber containing subjects of extensive experimentation by Shinra scientists who had tested the effects of injecting Mako directly into human beings . The entity Jenova was kept within the reactor , but was moved to Midgar after the village was razed by Sephiroth . The reactor continued to be used to power Nibelheim , and it is likely the test subjects at the reactor were either destroyed or moved as well . A Huge Materia was produced here , transported to Junon , and then shipped from there to Rocket Town by way of the Gelnika . Modeo Reactor . A reactor was originally planned to be built in Modeoheim . The construction had already begun when the project was scrapped . The few resident scientists abandoned the town and it was not visited again until the partial reactor was briefly used as a base by Genesis ' s forces . Wutai Reactor . Shinra targeted Wutai to place a reactor at the Materia Cave south of the town , but the ruler of Wutai , Godo Kisaragi , refused . This led to the conflict known as the Wutai War . Although Shinra won the war , for unknown reasons , they abandoned their plans to build a reactor at Wutai . Musical themes . Whenever the player visits a Mako Reactor in " Final Fantasy VII " , the eponymous theme , " Mako Reactor " , plays . The theme also plays in the 1996 and 1997 demo versions , although the earlier demo has a slightly different version of the track . Development . At one point in the development of " Final Fantasy VII " , AVALANCHE had to shut down all of the Mako Reactors to stand a chance at defeating Sephiroth , thus resulting in Reeve betraying Shinra to help them . While this plot - point was cut from the game , a similar plot - point occurs in " Dirge of Cerberus - Final Fantasy VII - " where AVALANCHE has to destroy the Mako Reactors around Midgar to slow down Omega ' s resurrection .