| Nuclear Aircraft |
Article Index for Nuclear |
Website Links For Nuclear |
Information AboutNuclear Aircraft |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT NUCLEAR AIRCRAFT | |
| nuclear vehicle propulsion | |
| nuclear aircraftnuclear vehicle propulsion | |
| nuclear aircraft | |
| aircraft by propulsion | |
| nuclear vehicle propulsion | |
|
A nuclear aircraft is an Aircraft powered by Nuclear Energy . Research into them was pursued during the Cold War by the United States and the Soviet Union as they would allow a country to hypothetically keep nuclear bombers in the air for extremely long periods of time, a useful tactic for Nuclear Deterrence . Neither country created any nuclear aircraft in production numbers. One design problem, never adequately solved, was the need for heavy shielding to protect the crew from Radiation Poisoning . Unmanned missiles have been designed to use Nuclear Thermal Rocket s, but such designs were considered too dangerous for crews or to actually fly. US PROGRAM See Also: Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Between 1946 and 1961, the United States Air Force had a program for Nuclear Energy for Propulsion of Aircraft. The USAF pursued two different systems for nuclear powered jet engines. One was the " Direct Air Cycle " General Electric program, which was based at Evendale, Ohio. This program was pursued because of its advantages in simplicity, reliability, suitability and quick start ability. Conventional jet engine compressor and turbine sections were used, with the compressed air run through the reactor itself to heat it before being exhausted through the turbine. This program produced the successful X-39 engine, two modified J47s with heat supplied by the Heat Transfer Reactor Experiment-1. The HTRE-1 was replaced by the HTRE-2 and eventually the HTRE-3 unit powering the two J47 engines was tested. The HTRE-3 used "a flight-type shield system" and would probably have gone on to power the X-6 had that program been pursued. The Indirect-Cycle program was assigned to Pratt & Whitney, at a facility near Middletown, Connecticut. The Indirect Cycle was a concept which would have produced far less radioactive pollution. One or two loops of liquid metal would carry the heat from the reactor to the engine. This program involved a great deal of research and development of many light-weigh systems suitable for use in aircraft, such as heat exchangers, liquid-metal turbo pumps and radiators. The Indirect Cycle program never came anywhere near producing flight ready hardware. The only known airborne reactor experiment by the United States with an operational Nuclear Reactor on board was NB-36H . The XB-36H flew a total of 47 times testing the reactor over West Texas and Southern New Mexico. Convair X-6 was a proposed experimental nuclear aircraft that never left the drawing board. The Idaho National Laboratory conducted research to produce a nuclear powered aircraft. Two General Electric turbofan engines were successfully powered to nearly full thrust using two shielded reactors. The two engines complete with reactor system are currently located at the EBR-1 facility south of INL. The U.S. designed these engines to be used in a new specially designed nuclear bomber, the WS-125 . The WS-125 was eventually terminated by Eisenhower who cu NEAP and told Congress that there was no urgency for the program. Eisenhower did back a small scale program developing high temperature materials and high performance reactors. That program was terminated early in the Kennedy administration. SOVIET PROGRAM Following discoveries in the early 1990s it was alleged 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. OTHER PROGRAMS
SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|