Thomas Eiden challenges the notion that nuclear power is an overarching threat to our lives and makes a compelling case to not fear the atom. Thomas Eiden is a nuclear engineer with a passion for education and outreach. He has worked at several national laboratories, designing reactor cores, reactor components, and the experiments to test them.

Who am I?

I am the founder and CEO of Atomic Alchemy, a company dedicated to producing radioisotopes used in nuclear medicine. I have a passion for all things nuclear, and enjoy teaching others–from boy scouts to their grandparents–about the amazing technology that already exists, and what is possible in the future.

I am a graduate from the Department of Nuclear Engineering / Engineering Physics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison in the Extreme Environments fuel and materials research group where I obtained my Master's degree in Nuclear Engineering (2013). I have experience operating UW-Madison’s 1MW TRIGA research reactor, and have worked at Argonne National Laboratory designing components for next generation fast reactors. Additionally, much of my work at UW-Madison is nuclear materials focused, so I have laboratory experience with radiation damage and corrosion.

I have written on nuclear matters for the Center for Industrial Progress and The Objective Standard, and was previously a member of Team JURBAN, competing in the Google Lunar X-Prize to land a rover on the moon. I acted as a consultant for anything nuclear and radiation-related.

Publications

"Evaluation of Erosion of the Dummy 'EE' Plate 19 in YA Type ATR Fuel Element During Reactor PALM Cycles," INL/EXT-16-38324, Idaho National Laboratory, August 2016.

"Development of Advanced Ultra-high Burnup SFR Metallic Fuel Concept Vented Fuel Pin and Benchmarking Design," Argonne National Laboratory Internal Report, August 17, 2012.

"Optimal Conditions for High Current Proton Irradiations at the University of Wisconsins Ion Beam Laboratory," 23rd International Conference on the Application of Accelerators in Research and Industry, August 10, 2012.

"Summary of Experimental Studies on Radiation Induced Segregation in Ferritic/Martensitic Steel at UW-Madison," NEUP Consortium on Cladding and Structural Materials, June 23-24, 2011.