The resurgence of nuclear-powered aircraft
May 20th 2008 03:42
Fifty years on and it seems that not much has changed the idea of a nuclear powered aircraft has been put forward yet again. With the price of crude oill on the rise is this idea the answer ?
The resurgence of nuclear-powered aircraft is apparently on the drawing board again.
The US Air Force is about to undertake on a feasibility study for a nuclear-powered version of an unmanned aircraft. The drone that will carry out unmanned surveillance work in sensitive areas of the world.
This is not the first time a nuclear aircraft was has been proposed the design was put forward in 1950s but the design was shelved because of serious concerns with radiation shielding for the crew and the thought of having the equivalent of a flying nuclear bomb in the air.
During the 1950s, The US and the USSR tried to develop nuclear propulsion systems for piloted aircraft. The plans were eventually scrapped because of the high cost involved in providing proper shielding without making the aircraft too heavy to fly.
You would think this idea would raise serious concerns about the wisdom of flying radioactive material in a combat aircraft. If shot down, or crashed in a populated area like a town or city would in effect be like detonating a dirty bomb. Flying in a potential nuclear fireball is not a concept i am comfortable with.
In December 1958 an aviation publication claimed that "a 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
." The article further claimed that the aircraft was "not a flying test bed in the sense that earlier US Air Force and Navy programs had called for installing a nuclear power plant in a conventional airframe such as the B-36...solely for test purposes. 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..." Several years later, a prototype of a Soviet conventionally-powered bomber, NATO code-named "Bounder," which never entered production.
There is no evidence that the Soviets actually flew such an aircraft or embarked on an aircraft nuclear propulsion programme. Keep in mind that the article was most likely a work of fiction as it was written during the cold war era.
The resurgence of nuclear-powered aircraft is apparently on the drawing board again.
The US Air Force is about to undertake on a feasibility study for a nuclear-powered version of an unmanned aircraft. The drone that will carry out unmanned surveillance work in sensitive areas of the world.
This is not the first time a nuclear aircraft was has been proposed the design was put forward in 1950s but the design was shelved because of serious concerns with radiation shielding for the crew and the thought of having the equivalent of a flying nuclear bomb in the air.
Photo of a converted B-36 bomber (designated the NB-36H) carried an operating nuclear reactor to study how to build a nuclear-powered aircraft - Credit: San Diego Aerospace Museum
You would think this idea would raise serious concerns about the wisdom of flying radioactive material in a combat aircraft. If shot down, or crashed in a populated area like a town or city would in effect be like detonating a dirty bomb. Flying in a potential nuclear fireball is not a concept i am comfortable with.
In December 1958 an aviation publication claimed that "a 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
." The article further claimed that the aircraft was "not a flying test bed in the sense that earlier US Air Force and Navy programs had called for installing a nuclear power plant in a conventional airframe such as the B-36...solely for test purposes. 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..." Several years later, a prototype of a Soviet conventionally-powered bomber, NATO code-named "Bounder," which never entered production.
There is no evidence that the Soviets actually flew such an aircraft or embarked on an aircraft nuclear propulsion programme. Keep in mind that the article was most likely a work of fiction as it was written during the cold war era.
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