Nuclear Motherboard Architecture: A Modular and Fault-Tolerant Approach to Advanced Reactor Design

This work introduces the Nuclear Motherboard Architecture (NMA), a novel conceptual framework for advanced nuclear reactor design inspired by computational motherboard systems. The proposed approach decomposes the reactor core into multiple semi-independent modules interconnected through a distributed control network, enabling enhanced fault tolerance, system resilience, and adaptive operational behavior. A nonlinear dynamic model is developed to describe the power evolution and coupling interactions between reactor modules. The model incorporates generation, saturation, and interconnection effects, providing a simplified yet effective representation of distributed reactor dynamics. Simulation scenarios are presented to evaluate system stability under nominal conditions, external perturbations, and localized module failure events. Results indicate that the modular architecture can isolate faults, redistribute power across operational modules, and maintain global system stability without cascading failures. This suggests a potential pathway toward safer and more flexible nuclear reactor designs. The Nuclear Motherboard Architecture represents an interdisciplinary contribution at the intersection of nuclear engineering, systems theory, and computational architecture. While the current work is conceptual and based on simplified modeling, it establishes a foundation for future research involving multi-physics simulations, thermal-hydraulic coupling, and experimental validation. This publication is part of ongoing independent research and aims to contribute to emerging design paradigms for next-generation nuclear energy systems.