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The only known experiment by the United States with an operational Nuclear Reactor on board was NB-36 . The Convair X-6 was a proposed experimental nuclear aircraft that never left the drawing board.

In the early 1990s it was discovered that the Soviet Union had flown a nuclear powered aircraft as early as 1961 . They used a modified Tupolev Tu-95 bomber, the Tupolev Tu-119 . To simplify issues of shielding, the crew had little protection. It had 2 conventional turboprop engines and 2 experimental 'dirty' direct cycle jet engines powered by a minimally shielded nuclear reactor in the main fuselage. The aircraft flew about 40 times.