How can I reuse my Nether Reactor?

So, I built my nether reactor out of a bunch of gold and diamonds I had been storing to see what it does. It was pretty crazy; after I activated it I warped to the netherworld version of my land and was attacked by the zombie pigmen and promptly died (serves me right for activating it unprepared!)

Now I have a giant obsidian tower in my world that seems to serve no purpose. Nothing special spawns inside it regardless of the time of day, it just sits there taking up space. I didn't get to keep anything I scavenged when I entered the nether because I died while in there and my stuff didn't seem to remain when I returned to the reactor location.

So, do I need to rebuild the whole reactor again just to re-enter the nether, or is there a way to re-activate the reactor once it's done its thing already? Is it a one time thing?

Solution 1:

This item is single-use I'm afraid, you'll have to build another, there is no way to reactivate it. If the Zombie Pigmen are a problem, change your difficulty to peaceful and they will not spawn (only items will).

Solution 2:

Just use a diamond pick to harvest the obsidian blocks sticking up in the center of the structure and find your reactor inside.

Solution 3:

All you have to do is dig the Obsidian. The one where it has the Nether Reactor and dig out the middle one. If you do that you'll get your Nether Reactor back and also before all the block turns red you have chance to dig your Gold Block out.

Solution 4:

Yes - even if you leave (when it is on Peaceful Mode), all of the stuff that comes out of the Nether Reactor will vanish.