Tour the Tomb of NASA’s First and Last Nuclear Reactor

They actually built and ran those nuclear-powered jet engines! The two test beds are sitting in front of the EBR1 building near Arco, ID. I happened by it on the way home from a very long motorcycle trip:<p><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/lhoriman/3763287997/in/set-72157621750944722" rel="nofollow">http://www.flickr.com/photos/lhoriman/3763287997/in/set-7215...</a><p>They ran the engines on the ground, and ran the reactor in the plane, but never had the reactor hooked up to engines in a plane. It would have been a horrible idea; to save weight, airflow ran through the reactor core, spewing radionuclides out the exhaust and contaminating everything it flew over. Not to mention the mess a crash would make.<p>More information here: <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion" rel="nofollow">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aircraft_Nuclear_Propulsion</a>

<i>Current regulations bar NASA from building or researching fueled nuclear devices</i><p>I'm not sure what the author means here, but the Mars Curiosity Rover (on its way to Mars right now) is powered by a nuclear device (an RTG). Maybe NASA just isn't allowed to pursue the (real) project Orion-type spacecraft anymore?

Cherenkov radiation is so freaking cool. <a href="http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/06/plum-brook-nuclear-facility/?pid=4023" rel="nofollow">http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2012/06/plum-brook-nuclear...</a>