well, there /is/ a science to power blocks apparently
Heck yeah there is.
Here's a reactor design i've found that works quite well; I call it the Keylock Reactor. It's extremely effecient, and before the power updates, I would be getting recharge rates of 4 million with only 2 million of a base power load (this was BEFORE power tanks were implemented and the power block loadon was nerfed). Meaning the reactor had an effeciency rating of something like, +200%.

(1) Make long stacks of power blocks going out parallel and in a circular or oval arrangement (preferably backwards) from the ship core (assuming you are building the reactor first for your ship), making sure that they do not touch each other and that any blocks put
outward from them in a perpendicular line do not touch each other.
(2) Make equally-spaced rings of power blocks that wrap around the long stacks of power blocks but do not touch them at any point.
(3) Connect each long stack to ONE ring each
(4) Congrats! You are now free to expand outward blocks from the rings, and your power load will be enourmous, if done right.