The Convair NB-36H flying testbed, which contained a nuclear reactor but conventional engines. (Note the nuclear symbol on the aircraft’s tail.) The US Air Force was unable to build a nuclear-powered aircraft, but made strides in miniaturizing and lightening nuclear reactors. (US Air Force)

A Nuclear-Powered Aircraft? The US Tried to Build It in the 1950s

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We know that it is possible to build a jet airplane powered by nuclear reactors. Whether it is possible to build it without killing the crew remains unclear.

In the early Cold War, before ICBM technology matured, the US Air Force seriously considered what now seems quite strange: building a nuclear-powered aircraft that could remain airborne for extraordinary periods without dependence on conventional jet fuel.

The effort, initially known as the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA), later evolved into the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program in 1951. The logic of the program was intuitive; if a bomber could remain airborne for days at a time, it could provide persistent nuclear deterrence against the Soviet Union, in much the same way that today’s nuclear submarines (SSBNs) do. A bomber perpetually in the air would be impossible to catch unawares in a preemptive strike; it would guarantee the United States a second-strike capability against the USSR, making a nuclear war unwinnable.

But things weren’t so simple from a technological........

© The National Interest