Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion
The Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion (ANP) program and the preceding Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft (NEPA) project worked to develop a nuclear propulsion system for aircraft. The United States Army Air Forces initiated Project NEPA on May 28, 1946.[1] NEPA operated until May 1951, when the project was transferred to the joint Atomic Energy Commission (AEC)/USAF ANP.[2] The USAF pursued two different systems for nuclear-powered jet engines, the Direct Air Cycle concept, which was developed by General Electric, and Indirect Air Cycle, which was assigned to Pratt & Whitney. The program was intended to develop and test the Convair X-6, but was canceled in 1961 before that aircraft was built. The total cost of the program from 1946 to 1961 was about $1 billion.[3]
This article is about the U.S. Air Force program. For aircraft powered by nuclear energy, see Nuclear-powered aircraft.Cancellation[edit]
Technological competition with the Soviet Union (as represented by the launch of Sputnik 1), and continued strong support from the Air Force allowed the program to continue, despite divided leadership between the DOD and the AEC. Numerous test facilities were funded and constructed through the 1950s and 1960–61 in order to produce a flight-worthy nuclear power unit, including one at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). While the ARE successfully demonstrated operation of a MSR concept, the program was canceled by President Kennedy on March 26, 1961[2] citing the outrageous cost with no flight-worthy reactor having been produced up to that point[5] – "15 years and about $1 billion have been devoted to the attempted development of a nuclear-powered aircraft; but the possibility of achieving a militarily useful aircraft in the foreseeable future is still very remote". Also contributing to the cancellation was that the first intercontinental ballistic missiles entered into active service in September 1959 which all but eliminated the need for a nuclear-powered aircraft as a strategic deterrent.[9][10] Nevertheless, the results of the ARE program prompted scientists and engineers at ORNL to submit a preliminary design proposal to the Atomic Energy Commission for a 30 MWth experimental MSR to explore MSR as a civilian power station concept.[11] The result of the proposal was direction from the Atomic Energy Commission for ORNL to design, construct, and operate the Molten-Salt Reactor Experiment (MSRE).[12]