A nuclear-powered aircraft is a concept for an
aircraft
An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...
intended to be powered by nuclear energy. The intention was to produce a
jet engine
A jet engine is a type of reaction engine, discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition may include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...
that would heat compressed air with heat from fission, instead of heat from burning fuel.
During the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Soviet Union
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
researched nuclear-powered bomber aircraft, the greater endurance of which could enhance
nuclear deterrence
Deterrence theory refers to the scholarship and practice of how threats of using force by one party can convince another party to refrain from initiating some other course of action. The topic gained increased prominence as a military strategy d ...
, but neither country created any such operational aircraft.
One inadequately solved design problem was the need for heavy shielding to protect the crew and those on the ground from radiation; other potential problems included dealing with crashes.
Some missile designs included nuclear-powered hypersonic cruise missiles.
However, the advent of
ICBM
An intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) is a ballistic missile with a range (aeronautics), range greater than , primarily designed for nuclear weapons delivery (delivering one or more Thermonuclear weapon, thermonuclear warheads). Conven ...
s and
nuclear submarine
A nuclear submarine is a submarine powered by a nuclear reactor, but not necessarily nuclear-armed.
Nuclear submarines have considerable performance advantages over "conventional" (typically diesel-electric) submarines. Nuclear propulsion ...
s in the 1960s greatly diminished the strategic advantage of such aircraft, and respective projects were canceled.
U.S. programs
NEPA and ANP
In May 1946, the
United States Army Air Forces
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
started the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA) project, which conducted studies until the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program replaced NEPA in 1951. The ANP program included provisions for studying two different types of nuclear-powered jet engines:
General Electric
General Electric Company (GE) was an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1892, incorporated in the New York (state), state of New York and headquartered in Boston.
Over the year ...
's Direct Air Cycle and
Pratt & Whitney
Pratt & Whitney is an American aerospace manufacturer with global service operations. It is a subsidiary of RTX Corporation (formerly Raytheon Technologies). Pratt & Whitney's aircraft engines are widely used in both civil aviation (especially ...
's Indirect Air Cycle. ANP planned for Convair to modify two B-36s under the MX-1589 project. One of the B-36s, the
NB-36H, was to be used for studying shielding requirements for an airborne reactor, while the other was to be the
X-6; however, the program was canceled before the X-6 was completed.
The first operation of a nuclear aircraft engine occurred on January 31, 1956 using a modified
General Electric J47 turbojet
The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...
engine.
The
Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program was terminated by President Kennedy after his annual budget message to Congress in 1961.
The
Oak Ridge National Laboratory
Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) is a federally funded research and development centers, federally funded research and development center in Oak Ridge, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1943, the laboratory is sponsored by the United Sta ...
researched and developed nuclear aircraft engines. Two shielded reactors powered two
General Electric J87 turbojet
The turbojet is an airbreathing jet engine which is typically used in aircraft. It consists of a gas turbine with a propelling nozzle. The gas turbine has an air inlet which includes inlet guide vanes, a compressor, a combustion chamber, and ...
engines to nearly full thrust. Two experimental reactors, HTRE-2 with its turbojet engines intact, and HTRE-3 with its engines removed, are at the
EBR-1 facility south of the
Idaho National Laboratory
Idaho National Laboratory (INL) is one of the national laboratories of the United States Department of Energy and is managed by the Battelle Energy Alliance. Historically, the lab has been involved with nuclear research, although the labora ...
.

The U.S. designed these engines for use in a new, specially designed nuclear bomber, the
WS-125. Although President Eisenhower eventually terminated it by cutting NEPA and telling Congress that the program was not urgent, he backed a small program for developing high-temperature materials and high-performance reactors; that program was terminated early in the Kennedy administration.
Project Pluto
In 1957, the Air Force and the
U.S. Atomic Energy Commission contracted with the
Lawrence Radiation Laboratory
Lawrence may refer to:
Education Colleges and universities
* Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States
* Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States
Preparator ...
to study the feasibility of applying heat from nuclear reactors to
ramjet
A ramjet is a form of airbreathing jet engine that requires forward motion of the engine to provide air for combustion. Ramjets work most efficiently at supersonic speeds around and can operate up to .
Ramjets can be particularly appropriat ...
engines.
This research became known as ''Project Pluto''. This program was to provide engines for an unmanned cruise missile, called SLAM, for
Supersonic Low Altitude Missile.
The program succeeded in producing two test engines, which were operated on the ground. On May 14, 1961, the world's first nuclear ramjet engine, "Tory-IIA," mounted on a railroad car, roared to life for just a few seconds. On July 1, 1964, seven years and six months after it was born, "Project Pluto" was canceled.
Airships
There were several studies and proposals for nuclear-powered
airship
An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat (lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the ...
s, starting with a 1954 study by F. W. Locke Jr. for US Navy. In 1957 Edwin J. Kirschner published the book ''The Zeppelin in the Atomic Age'', which promoted the use of atomic airships. In 1959
Goodyear presented a plan for nuclear-powered airship for both military and commercial use. Several other proposals and papers were published during the next decades.
Soviet programs
Soviet nuclear bomber scare
The 1 December 1958 issue of ''
Aviation Week
''Aviation Week & Space Technology'', often abbreviated ''Aviation Week'' or ''AW&ST'', is the flagship magazine of the Aviation Week Network, a division of Informa. The weekly magazine is available in print and online, reporting on the aeros ...
'' included an article, "Soviets Flight Testing Nuclear Bomber", that claimed that the Soviets had greatly progressed a nuclear aircraft program: "
nuclear-powered bomber is being flight tested in the Soviet Union. Completed about six months ago, this aircraft has been flying in the Moscow area for at least two months. It has been observed both in flight and on the ground by a wide variety of foreign observers from Communist and non-Communist countries." Unlike the US designs of the same era, which were purely experimental, the article noted that "The Soviet aircraft is a prototype of a design to perform a military mission as a continuous airborne alert warning system and missile launching platform." Photographs illustrated the article, along with technical diagrams on the proposed layout; these were so widely seen that one company produced a plastic
model aircraft
A model aircraft is a physical model of an existing or imagined aircraft, and is built typically for display, research, or amusement. Model aircraft are divided into two basic groups: flying and non-flying. Non-flying models are also termed s ...
based on the diagrams in the article. An editorial on the topic accompanied the article.
Concerns were soon expressed in Washington that "the Russians were from three to five years ahead of the US in the field of atomic aircraft engines and that they would move even further ahead unless the US pressed forward with its own program". These concerns caused continued but temporary funding of the US's own program.
The aircraft in the photographs was later revealed to be the conventional
Myasishchev M-50 ''Bounder'', a medium-range strategic bomber that performed like the
United States Air Force
The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Air force, air service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces and one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Tracing its ori ...
-operated
B-58 Hustler
The Convair B-58 Hustler, designed and produced by American aircraft manufacturer Convair, was the first operational bomber capable of Mach 2 flight.
The B-58 was developed during the 1950s for the United States Air Force (USAF) Strategic Air ...
. The design was considered a failure, never entered service, and was revealed to the public on Soviet Aviation Day in 1963 at
Monino
Monino () is an urban locality (a work settlement) in Shchyolkovsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia, located east of Moscow. Population:
History
Monino was founded in the Muninskaya Wasteland () on August 23, 1792. The name "Monino" or "M ...
, putting the issue to rest.
Tupolev Tu-119
The Soviet program of nuclear aircraft development resulted in the experimental
Tupolev Tu-95LAL () which derived from the
Tupolev Tu-95
The Tupolev Tu-95 (; NATO reporting name: "Bear") is a large, four-engine turboprop-powered strategic bomber and missile platform. Maiden flight, First flown in 1952, the Tu-95 entered service with the Soviet Long Range Aviation, Long-Range Avia ...
bomber, but with a reactor fitted in the bomb bay.
The aircraft is reported to have been flown up to 40 times from 1961 to 1969. The main purpose of the flight phase was examining the effectiveness of the radiation shielding. A follow-up design, the Tu-119, was planned to have two conventional turboprop engines and two direct-cycle nuclear jet engines, but was never completed. Several other projects, like the supersonic
Tupolev Tu-120, reached only the design phase.
Russian programs
In February 2018, Russian President
Vladimir Putin
Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
said that Russia had developed a new, nuclear-powered cruise missile with nuclear warhead that can evade air and missile defenses and hit any point on the globe.
According to the statements, its first flight test occurred in 2017. The missile was said to feature "a small-size super-powerful power plant that can be placed inside the hull of a cruise missile and guarantee a range of flight ten times greater than that of other missiles." The video showed the missile evading defense systems over the Atlantic, flying over
Cape Horn
Cape Horn (, ) is the southernmost headland of the Tierra del Fuego archipelago of southern Chile, and is located on the small Hornos Island. Although not the most southerly point of South America (which is Águila Islet), Cape Horn marks the nor ...
and finally north towards Hawaii. To date there is no publicly available evidence to verify these statements. The Pentagon stated that it is aware of a Russian test of a nuclear-powered cruise missile but the system is still under development and had crashed in the Arctic in 2017.
A
RAND Corporation
The RAND Corporation, doing business as RAND, is an American nonprofit global policy think tank, research institute, and public sector consulting firm. RAND engages in research and development (R&D) in several fields and industries. Since the ...
researcher specializing in Russia said "My guess is they're not bluffing, that they've flight-tested this thing. But that's incredible." According to a CSIS fellow, such a nuclear-powered missile "has an almost unlimited range – you could have it flying around for long periods of time before you order it to hit something". Putin's statements and the video showing a concept of the missile in flight suggest that it is not a supersonic ramjet like
Project Pluto but a subsonic vehicle with a nuclear-heated turbojet or turbofan engine.
The new cruise missile is named
9M730 Burevestnik
The 9M730 Burevestnik (; " Storm petrel", NATO reporting name: SSC-X-9 Skyfall) is a Russian low-flying, nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile under development for the Russian Armed Forces. According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, ...
(
Russian
Russian(s) may refer to:
*Russians (), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*A citizen of Russia
*Russian language, the most widely spoken of the Slavic languages
*''The Russians'', a b ...
: Буревестник; "
Storm petrel
Storm petrel or stormy petrel may refer to one of two bird family (biology), families, both in the order Procellariiformes, once treated as the same family.
The two families are:
* Northern storm petrels (''Hydrobatidae'') are found in the No ...
").
See also
*
Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion
*
Aircraft Reactor Experiment
*
Georgia Nuclear Aircraft Laboratory
*
Induced gamma emission speculated as power source for aircraft
*
List of nuclear-powered aircraft
*
Lockheed Martin Compact Fusion Reactor
The Lockheed Martin Compact Fusion Reactor (CFR) was a fusion power project at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works. Its high-beta configuration, which implies that the ratio of plasma pressure to magnetic pressure is greater than or equal to 1 (compar ...
*
Nuclear thermal rocket
A nuclear thermal rocket (NTR) is a type of thermal rocket where the heat from a nuclear reaction replaces the chemical energy of the rocket propellant, propellants in a chemical rocket. In an NTR, a working fluid, usually liquid hydrogen, is ...
Citations
General and cited sources
*
*
External links
Short overview of the NB-36 programme(initially intended for aircraft propulsion)
SOVİET TOP SECRET NUCLEAR AIRPLANE M-60 Akademi Portalby Akademi Portal web site (in English)
COMPREHENSHIVE TECHNICAL REPORT GE DIRECT AIR CYCLE AIRCRAFT NUCLEAR PROPULSION PROGRAM(in English)
"Flyable" Reactors & Neutron Coupling(in English)
* Descriptions of the Tu-95 experiment
(in Russian)
SOVİET TOP SECRET NUCLEAR AIRPLANE M-60 Akademi Portal
by Akademi Portal web site (in English)
The Decay of the Atomic Powered Aircraft Program, retrieved 2009 Dec 21, includes a bibliography
* ttps://books.google.com/books?id=OSEDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA98 "A Scientist Preview: The First Atomic Airplane" by Gerald Wendtfor 1951 a very good article with illustrations on the subject of using an atomic reactor to power an aircraft
"A Round Table Conference Looks At - The Atomic Airplane"
''Popular Mechanics'', April 1957, pp. 100–105.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nuclear aircraft
Cancelled aircraft projects
Aircraft
An aircraft ( aircraft) is a vehicle that is able to flight, fly by gaining support from the Atmosphere of Earth, air. It counters the force of gravity by using either Buoyancy, static lift or the Lift (force), dynamic lift of an airfoil, or, i ...