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Going Nuclear: Notes from the officially unofficial book tour
I work in the analytical labs at one of Europe’s oldest and largest nuclear sites: Sellafield, in northwestern England. I spend my days at the fume hood front, pipette in one hand and radiation probe in the other (and dosimeter pinned to my chest, of course). Outside the lab, I have a second job: I moonlight as a writer and public speaker. My new popular science book—Going Nuclear: How the Atom Will Save the World—came out last summer, and it feels like my life has been running at full power ever since.
Thabit Abuqudaira, Pavel Tsvetkov, Piyush Sabharwall
Nuclear Science and Engineering | Volume 200 | Number 1 | March 2026 | Pages S212-S233
Research Article | doi.org/10.1080/00295639.2024.2423132
Articles are hosted by Taylor and Francis Online.
Recent interest in molten salt reactors (MSRs) has initiated research projects on their safety and performance compared to light water reactors. Maintaining the fuel salt in a molten state during reactor operation at all power levels is a significant safety concern for these reactors. Various strategies can be used to maintain the fuel salt temperature above its melting point during low-power reactor operation. This study analyzed the impact of using electric heaters on the stability and performance of an operating MSR. For this purpose, a simulation tool was developed for reactor dynamics and stability analysis studies. The simulation tool was validated against the Molten Salt Reactor Experiment reactivity insertion tests. The dynamics of an MSR with and without operating electric heaters at steady state and following initiated transients were investigated and compared. Simulation results showed that the usage of these heaters is more pronounced during transients rather than in the steady-state operation. The stability of the system degraded following transients due to the operation of heaters. However, using heaters remains an alternative strategy to maintain fuel salt molten at low power levels.