I don’t see nuclear power as viable for aircraft. Too heavy. Just like electric airplanes make no sense because batteries are too heavy per unit of energy stored.
“I don’t see nuclear power as viable for aircraft. Too heavy. Just like electric airplanes make no sense because batteries are too heavy per unit of energy stored.”
I have talked to engineers that worked on the program and your exactly right. If you need a plane that can fly around the world non stop 3 times then it would be cost effective. But since that is pointless then nuke planes made no sense. Maybe someday if we can make the reactor drastically lighter... but probably not even then. And like you said, for electric planes we need another order of magnitude reduction in battery weight. Maybe someday.