Conventional MRI magnets, consisting of low temperature superconducting (LTS) niobium titanium (NbTi) wire, require around 2000 liters of liquid helium (LHe) to operate. With the rising demand for LHe [1], alternative magnets designs requiring less LHe are worth considering. One option is a conduction cooled magnet using magnesium diboride (MgB₂) wire and operating at temperatures above 4.2 K [2]. The feasibility of such magnets have been studied [3], and designs exist for whole body magnets with fields greater than 1.5 T using second generation MgB₂ wire [2]. An essential part of any superconducting magnet design is the protection of the magnet during a quench where local hot-spots and large temperature rises can destroy the magnet [4]. Compared to NbTi magnets, the normal zone propagation velocity (NZPV) in MgB₂ is much slower, which presents challenges in the design of a quench protection system [4,5]. Hence, high temperature superconducting (HTS) magnets must rely on active rather than passive quench systems [4]. The effectiveness of the protection depends, in part, on how quickly the quench can be detected and the temperature at the local hot-spot at the time of detection [4]. In this study, the initial propagation of a quench due to a hot-spot for a 1.5 T MgB₂ magnet design is studied with operating temperatures in the range 10 to 18 K.A quench is simulated for a 1.5 T MRI magnet design (Figure 1) with first generation MgB₂ wire. The governing heat equation is solved in MATLAB (MathWorks) using the implicit Douglas-Gunn method [6,7]. The wire, based on one from Hyper Tech Research Inc., consists of MgB₂ filaments surrounded by a matrix of niobium and copper and a sheath of Monel [8]. The quench is also simulated with Glidcop Al-60 as the sheath material, which increases the thermal conductivity and decreases the electrical resistivity of the wire [9]. The wire has a cross sectional area of 1.47 mm² and an operating current of 256 A. In this model, the quench is initiated by a small disturbance heater (2 cm x 0.18 cm), which deposits energy for 0.5 seconds. The quench is initiated in one of two locations: 1) the center of the outer surface of Coil 1 with a transition temperature of 27.2 K, and 2) in Coil 4 at the location of the maximum magnetic field (2.84 T) with a transition temperature of 20.3 K. In the first set of simulations, the wire sheath is Monel, and in the second set, Glidcop. For all these simulations, the maximum temperature, resistive voltage, and NZPV were recorded.Figure 2 shows that the azimuthal NZPV increases as the operating temperature increases for both types of wire and both disturbance heater locations. The maximum temperature versus resistive voltage for Coil 1 using the Monel sheathed wire is depicted in Figure 3 for various operating temperatures. Finally, the maximum temperature inside the coil at the time the resistive voltage reaches a 200 mV threshold is shown in Figure 4 for a range of operating temperatures for both types of wire. The use of Glidcop has the largest impact when the quench starts at a location with both a lower magnetic field and operating temperature.The rate of temperature rise and resistive voltage increase is a consideration in the design of a quench protection system. The maximum temperature should be as small as possible when the resistive voltage reaches a detectable threshold [10]. The maximum temperature at a 200 mV threshold decreases when both the operating temperature increases and when the quench disturbance occurs at a location with a higher magnetic field. Thus, a quench can be detected at a lower hot-spot temperature when the magnet operates at a higher temperature. However, as mentioned by Ye, a trade-off exists between the stability of the magnet and the protection of the magnet [11]. For instance, when operating at 18 K, the minimum quench energy is reduced to 150 mJ, (but is still an order of magnitude larger than the 10 mJ needed to quench a NbTi magnet [2]). Another reason to operate at a lower temperature may be to keep the entire magnet superconducting if a non- uniform temperature profile related to the conduction cooling is present. Nonetheless, if the temperature profile is uniform, an increased operating temperature has the advantage in making the magnet easier to protect during a quench.