Convair NB-36H And Tu-95LAL Powered By A Nuclear Reactor.
Several years into the Cold War, United States and Soviet Union began exploring an unthinkable concept: powering aircraft with a nuclear reactor.
The ambitious goal of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program was to carry out a complete development of the reactor and aircraft engine systems.
In the US, the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA) kicked off that research and development process, with the US government giving Convair the contract to convert one of its B-36 Peacemakers into the NB-36H, creating an aircraft for NEPA.
In February 1951 Convair received a contract to convert two B-36H bombers to use General Electric P-1 nuclear turbojet engines. This used a heat transfer reactor to produce compressed and heated air, which was then fed to one or more General Electric J47 axial-flow turbojets.
In theory this would produce a bomber with almost unlimited range. A preliminary design for the NB-36H was produced. The reactor and turbines would probably have been carried in pods under the wings, just as in the later models of the B-36, as in the versions of the engine that were tested on the ground the two elements were combined in a single piece of machinery.
This combination of engine and aircraft soon fell out of favour, and the NB-36H was cancelled in 1953.
Work continued on other nuclear powered aircraft for some time, and the original design for the North American XB-70A had been built around a combined nuclear and conventional system. Funding for nuclear powered bombers was greatly reduced in 1956, reduced again in 1959 and stopped in 1961. The rocket missile era began.
Convair installed a small reactor in the plane's bomb bay. This was used to investigate the impact of radiation on aircraft systems and airframes and made a number of flights in 1955-57.
In 1954, B.C. Briant, who was then the director of the project, declared that "the nuclear aircraft was the most difficult development and engineering work attempted in this century."
The Soviet Union launched a similar project on Tupolev Tu-95LAL (Flying Laboratory Unit). The plan was to modify Tu-95 aircraft with nuclear-powered engine.
However, neither aircraft reached production stage, and the onboard nuclear reactor was only turned on to test the effects of radiation on the crew.