The Atomic Airplane

Summary

In 1980s, veterans of the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion program got together and recorded nearly 13 hours of presentations and interviews describing the amazing effort to make a nuclear-powered airplane. The content is mostly focused on the Heat Transfer Reactor Experiments (HTREs) which can still be seen sitting out in the parking lot of the EBR-I museum in Idaho. Dr. Jake Hecla, Stanton Postdoctoral Fellow at MIT, digitized this material with the help of John Webb. The people who saved this film and got it to Dr. Hecla are Lee Hite and David Carpenter. The late John Webb (W7NWH), Otto Woike, George Pomeroy, and Gunnar Thornton contributed to the development and preservation of this film. This page contains a full transcript of the recordings with links to the specific timestamps in the films. 1 Intro From 1946 through 51, the Fairchild Airplane Company conducted feasibility studies for nuclear propulsion for aircraft, or NEPA. Various cycles, power plants, and nuclear reactors were explored. Among the decisions was that the jet engine, still in its infancy, was to be used. In 1951, a decision was made that GEANP was to develop the direct cycle concept where the air from the compressor was heated directly by the reactor fuel elements. Major elements of the ANP program are shown on the chart. During the 1951-53 early nuclear flight was an objective to determine operational feasibility of a nuclear-powered aircraft. The test aircraft was to be a B-36. The power plant consisted of four modified J-47s designated the X-39. The energy was supplied by one R-1 reactor. The R-1 was water-moderated and had an aluminum structure. The fuel element consisted of a 310 stainless steel plus UO2 matrix, which was clad with stainless steel. The program was redirected in early 1953. Three heat transfer reactor experiments, HTREs, followed. From 1952 through 61, the divided shield design was validated and various shield materials were tested in the tower shield facility at Oak Ridge. Al...