@mrfrankincense Perhaps this aircraft may not be of use now, but in the future it may serve us in space. Think of a spacecraft powered by a nuclear reactor.
@mrfrankincense If we someday go far away from the sun where we cannot use solar panels we would need a nuclear reactor to generate power for the spaceship and some proposed propulsion systems could run off of a nuclear reactor.
@D8W2P4 I don't understand your point; spacecraft use radioisotopethermoelectricgenerators and this uses a fission reactor, so it has no application in space. The benefits of a nuclear reactor on an aircraft are very slight and the costs (radioactivity) are huge, so it has no application on earth.
@quangluu96 Well, that is the thing. Hydrogen isn't radioactive, but when fusioned (4 atoms of hydrogen fusion together), it becomes... I don't remember, but whatever, that is called fusion. The fusion (the same reaction that occurs in the sun) gives more energy than the fission (when a radioactive element dismantle)(which is used in nuclear powerplant), but it is harder to control. We didn't found a way yet to control the fusion without blowing up everything.
@Colariboo actully most fusion reactors still release neutron radiation because they use a reaction of deuterium and tritium, one of the neutrons in the tritium is released since helium usually just needs 2 neutrons, I'm not a expert on this but I presume that this is because of the reaction with tritium requires less energy to initiate
That would have been so awesome, Maybe this will be the future of aviation. BTW hippies, workers at nuclear power plants get less radiation in a year than one person gets during one international flight.
@marick626 Keep in mind when you fly on a commercial airline- you are getting bombarded with 30-40 times normal background radiation. So you're already flying with something radioactive.
was this from the inel facility close to arco idaho? i flew over the strip up there that supposedly was home to this project...it was a 25,000 foot runway...parts are now overgrown. i think instead of 6" leaded glass, it was actually 12"...
@HeildemKrieg Although it could be purposefully designed to detonate in a crash.
mrfrankincense 6 months ago
Why do many of these amazing and revolutionary projects go abandoned ? Lack of funding and politics. These are the main killers of innovation!
Gytu 7 months ago
@Gytu i agree.
raykiller545 7 months ago
@Gytu Why does the world need nuclear powered aircraft. An innovation with not much use.
mrfrankincense 6 months ago
@mrfrankincense Perhaps this aircraft may not be of use now, but in the future it may serve us in space. Think of a spacecraft powered by a nuclear reactor.
Gytu 6 months ago
@Gytu Why is that desirable?
mrfrankincense 6 months ago
@mrfrankincense If we someday go far away from the sun where we cannot use solar panels we would need a nuclear reactor to generate power for the spaceship and some proposed propulsion systems could run off of a nuclear reactor.
D8W2P4 5 months ago
@D8W2P4 We have already built nuclear reactors for travelling away from the sun and they use completely different technology.
mrfrankincense 5 months ago
@mrfrankincense Where do you think some of the early information for doing that came from though?
D8W2P4 5 months ago
@D8W2P4 I don't understand your point; spacecraft use radioisotopethermoelectricgenerators and this uses a fission reactor, so it has no application in space. The benefits of a nuclear reactor on an aircraft are very slight and the costs (radioactivity) are huge, so it has no application on earth.
mrfrankincense 5 months ago
@mrfrankincense
Only needs to refuel once every 10-20 years.
KiloByte69 4 months ago
What TV show was this called again? I remember watching it on Speedvision years ago and can't find the name of it.
TMH23 9 months ago
Put a high temperature helium cooled pebble bed reactor in there and you're good to go.
ImMichaelTaylor 11 months ago
@HeildemKrieg
Actually, a nuclear bomb-like reaction is completely impossible, in any reactor.
Ayrshore 11 months ago
A bomber that if you shot down, your fucked. Genius.
athletichunta 11 months ago
The first aircraft meant to fly around the world without refueling and deliver H-bombs.
animedude237 1 year ago
so, if they use hydrogen as the nuclear fuel, isnt that still have radiation or no? cuz hydrogen is just flammable but not radiate
quangluu96 1 year ago
@quangluu96 Well, that is the thing. Hydrogen isn't radioactive, but when fusioned (4 atoms of hydrogen fusion together), it becomes... I don't remember, but whatever, that is called fusion. The fusion (the same reaction that occurs in the sun) gives more energy than the fission (when a radioactive element dismantle)(which is used in nuclear powerplant), but it is harder to control. We didn't found a way yet to control the fusion without blowing up everything.
Colariboo 1 year ago
@Colariboo actully most fusion reactors still release neutron radiation because they use a reaction of deuterium and tritium, one of the neutrons in the tritium is released since helium usually just needs 2 neutrons, I'm not a expert on this but I presume that this is because of the reaction with tritium requires less energy to initiate
iknowmy3table 1 year ago
That would have been so awesome, Maybe this will be the future of aviation. BTW hippies, workers at nuclear power plants get less radiation in a year than one person gets during one international flight.
usernameavilable 1 year ago
Ridiculous. At least it didn't fall on a housing development.
49bobbyk 1 year ago
"...but they didn't complain" no shit. I would piss my pants if I had to fly with anything radioactive, let alone a freaking nuclear reactor.
marick626 1 year ago
@marick626 Keep in mind when you fly on a commercial airline- you are getting bombarded with 30-40 times normal background radiation. So you're already flying with something radioactive.
mriv2011 1 year ago
this is the largest bomber plane i ever saw!!
rockman9h02m 1 year ago
was this from the inel facility close to arco idaho? i flew over the strip up there that supposedly was home to this project...it was a 25,000 foot runway...parts are now overgrown. i think instead of 6" leaded glass, it was actually 12"...
bitikofer72 2 years ago
African Americans were driving the vehicle around. I hope they didn't use African Americans to fry from the nuclear reactor.
undertake782 2 years ago
@undertake782 I nominate you for biggest douche in the Universe
zeonbub 1 year ago
I'd be interested and scared to see this implemented with today's technology.
revtune 2 years ago
The simple fact that it was successful scares me.
peepeevagi 2 years ago