Nuclear-Powered Jet Airplane Engines (1957-1961)

In front of the technician with a Geiger counter stands a vertical nuclear reactor made into a jet airplane engine. Behind it is a second, horizontal reactor engine. Nuclear-powered jet airplanes were intended to carry nuclear bombs and fly a pattern around the Soviet Union. The program was rendered obsolete by long-range missile technology. These are the only two nuclear jet airplane engines in existence. Idaho National Engineering Laboratory, Idaho Falls, Idaho. November 9, 1984.