Are there any nuclear-powered planes in China?

no. In the early days of the Cold War, the United States and the Soviet Union made a series of crazy weapons development plans in order to gain overwhelming military superiority over each other. Nuclear-powered aircraft can be called "madness in madness". For a period of time after the Second World War, the frightening "mushroom cloud" was the only impression that the public could associate with nuclear energy, but this frightening impression was soon replaced by a trend of thought of "nuclear energy fanaticism". Nuclear energy is considered to be a new industry serving the society and will lead to a new revolution. Aircraft, as one of the symbols of the 2th century, is inevitably associated with nuclear power. In theory, the energy released by a pound of enriched uranium fuel can drive an airplane to fly around the earth 8 times. With the beginning of the cold war, the United States needs this kind of bomber with almost unlimited range. The nuclear-powered aircraft of the US military-the "Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Program" (NEPA) began in 1946. The NEPA program is implemented by Fairchild's Engine and Aircraft Division, and the competent department of the project is the American Atomic Energy Commission (AEC). In 1951, nuclear-powered aircraft began to be really developed, General Electric Company was responsible for developing airborne nuclear reactor, Conville Company and Lockheed Company were responsible for developing suitable carrier aircraft, and the first flight was optimistically scheduled for 1956. A big gamble between the Atomic Energy Commission and the US Air Force began. Conville Company decided to refit two basic B-36H bombers (the largest bombers in the world at that time) to accommodate the nuclear reactor power plant. The improved aircraft was renamed as X-6, and the third modified B-36H was given the NB-36H model as a special flight test platform. At the beginning of the development plan, many technical problems that make people helpless followed, the most important of which is the nuclear radiation protection of the reactor. According to the design at that time, the "reactor-jet engine" power plant was prepared to be installed in the rear bomb bay of the X-6, and four turbojet engines were located in the lower part of the rear fuselage. The protection part includes: a large water tank surrounding the reactor, in which water plays the role of shielding and moderator at the same time; The circular protective cover behind the cockpit is made of lead and steel, with a diameter of 2 meters and a thickness of 1 centimeters. Although under such protection, there were still concerns about the leakage of excessive doses of nuclear radiation. The cumulative effect of radiation is very great for an airplane whose design may be left vacant for several weeks. In 1955, at a proving ground in Idaho, the engine was operated on the ground test bench called "HTRE-1". Engineers tested a complete aircraft power plant consisting of reactor, radiation shield, two X-39 engines, pipelines, control components and various instruments. In 1957, other reactor cores were tested, and HTRE-2 and 3 devices slightly reduced some weight. According to the published information, the HTRE-3 engine can reach 48,3 kilometers when the plane cruises at a speed of 74 kilometers per hour. Since then, NB-36H has completed 47 flights with the test reactor from 1955 to 1957. Although the reactor does not provide power, it provides a lot of data about the effects of nuclear radiation. Every time the NB-36H flies, it is accompanied by a Boeing C-97 transport plane full of fully armed marines. Once the NB-36H crashed, the soldiers on the C-9 immediately parachuted and sealed off the crash site. This is undoubtedly a very dangerous mission for the soldiers who perform this task. In a sense, they are escorting a flying nuclear bomb. Someone jokingly named this special unit "flash in the dark", which is very humorous. Fortunately, the crash never happened, and NB-36H finally retired safely at Fort Worth base in late 1957. After being put on hold for several months, NB-36H was demolished. When the KGB of the Soviet Union learned that the United States was developing the B-36 nuclear-powered aircraft, the Soviet leaders really couldn't sit still, and immediately began their own nuclear-powered strategic bomber plan. On August 12, 1955, the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union issued resolution 1561-868, demanding that a number of scientific research institutions and aviation enterprises be organized to conduct research on nuclear-powered aircraft. The plan code-named Tu -119 was launched immediately, that is, the Soviet Union's own VVR-C nuclear reactor was used on the Tu -95 strategic bomber. Four nuclear engines are used. In order to reduce the influence of nuclear radiation on the crew, the engines are divided into upper and lower floors and installed side by side in the isolation cabin at the tail of the aircraft. Missiles and bombs are directly installed on the suspension frame and deployed inside the cabin. Its design complexity is much higher than that of NB-36H. With many mature components, many people think that this Tu -119 will definitely become the first nuclear-powered aircraft in the Soviet Union and even in the world, but it finally ran aground because it could not solve the effective control and heat dissipation problems of the reactor in a short time. In 1962, Tu -119, the first nuclear-powered flight platform in the Soviet Union, successfully flew, and this nuclear-powered aircraft carried out more than 6 flight tests. Later, like the United States, the Soviet Union thought that since it had intercontinental ballistic missiles, nuclear-powered aircraft would be redundant, so it gave up the test project. The great charm of nuclear power not only attracted Americans, but also the Soviets were interested in nuclear-powered aircraft. The related research plan began in 1955 under the guidance of igori kurchatov, the "father of atomic bombs" in the Soviet Union. Different grades of engines and reactors were considered in the initial study, and in 1965, it was approved to build a flight test platform. The flight test platform was modified on the basis of Tu -95 "Bear" bomber in tupolev, and was given the new number of Tu -95LAL. Similar to NB-36H, Tu -95LAL carries a reactor, but it still relies on conventional power to fly. In May 1961, Tu -95LAL was launched for the first time. Its reactor is installed in the magazine, surrounded by lead and plastic barriers, and the plane is covered with radiation detectors. By August of the same year, Tu -95LAL*** had made 34 flights. The flight test results are encouraging, so the design work of the Tu -95 modified engine with real nuclear power began later, and the new machine number was Tu -119. At the beginning of the design of Tu -119, a variety of power schemes were considered, including nuclear turbofan engine and nuclear turboprop engine, etc., and finally NK-14A nuclear turboprop engine was decided, and the first flight was planned to be realized in 1965. However, it may be that the Soviet Union terminated its nuclear power aircraft development plan and Tu -119 lost the opportunity to take off forever after encountering the same technical problems as its American counterparts and being influenced by the dismantling of the American ANP plan. According to the British "Times" report, British scientists are calling on the government to implement a large-scale research plan-developing a nuclear-powered passenger plane to help the aviation industry change from fossil fuel to nuclear fuel. Nuclear-powered aircraft may sound like a concept from Thunderbirds, but they are not far away from reality. The head of a research project funded by the British government believes that nuclear-powered aircraft will come into our lives in the second half of this century, and millions of passengers around the world will rely on this new type of aircraft to travel. This project aims to reduce the harm of aviation industry to the environment. The passenger plane with nuclear reactor will fly nonstop from London to Australia or New Zealand, because the passenger plane no longer needs to land and refuel. This kind of flight will not emit carbon dioxide, so it will not cause any harm to the environment. Ian Bohr, a professor of aerospace engineering at Cranfield University in the United Kingdom and director of science and technology of the government-funded Omega program, called on the government to launch a large-scale research project to help the aviation industry change from fossil fuels to nuclear fuels. On the evening of October 27th, in a speech by the Royal Aviation Society, Bohr said that the tests during the cold war had shown that there were no insurmountable obstacles to the development of nuclear-powered aircraft. The United States and the Soviet Union began to develop nuclear power bombers in the 195s. According to the idea of scientists from both countries, nuclear-powered bombers can fly in the air for a long time, waiting for an opportunity to attack the target. The United States tested the nuclear power jet engine on the ground, and also conducted flight tests on the B-36 jet equipped with anti-radiation cabin and nuclear reactor. The nuclear reactor "ran hot" during the flight of the B-36 jet over western Texas and southern New Mexico, but the engine was powered by kerosene. The purpose of this series of flight tests is to prove that the crew is safe in the cabin and will not be radiated by the nuclear reactor. Safety worries the public. Every flight test, a plane full of marines is escorted, ready to deal with accidents at all times, and parachuted to the ground to maintain the safety of the incident site. In the early 196s, the United States and the Soviet Union thought that nuclear-powered aircraft would be redundant now that they had intercontinental ballistic missiles, so they abandoned the nuclear-powered aircraft testing project. In an interview with The Times, Professor Bohr said: "We need to find a solution to aviation carbon dioxide emissions, so that aircraft can fly for a long time without causing any harm to the environment. We need an airplane design that is not driven by kerosene. I think the nuclear power plane will be the answer after 25. This concept was proved 5 years ago, but I think it may take us 3 years to convince the public of the necessity of using nuclear-powered aircraft as a means of transportation. " Bohr said that a major challenge is to convince passengers and crew that nuclear reactors will not cause any harm to their health. He said: "The nuclear submarine has not caused any harm to the crew. Then, the aircraft can also do this by installing the nuclear reactor together with the engine on the wing. Assuming that the crash happens unfortunately, we can also eject the nuclear reactor out of the cabin before the crash and land it safely through a parachute, thus reducing the risk of nuclear reactor opening. " The nuclear power is demonized. Bohr said that even in the worst-case scenario, the armor wrapped around the nuclear reactor is penetrated, so the risk is nothing more than radioactive materials polluting several square miles of Fiona Fang. He said: "If we want to continue to enjoy the benefits of air travel without harming the environment, then we need to explore the potential of nuclear power. If the aviation industry still insists on using fossil fuels, it will eventually encounter serious problems. Unfortunately, nuclear power has been demonized, but it does have the potential for many benefits to mankind. " Bohr said that if nuclear power is not used, then another option is to develop hydrogen-fueled aircraft, and hydrogen can be extracted from seawater through nuclear power plants. However, he believes that although hydrogen is suitable for land transportation, its energy density is much lower than kerosene, so it is very difficult to design a long-range passenger plane that can carry enough fuel. Rob Coppinger, science and technology editor of Flight International magazine, said that nuclear reactors are more suitable to be installed on unmanned aerial vehicles for reconnaissance or close combat, because unmanned aerial vehicles don't have to adopt a lot of protective measures compared with passenger planes. Professor Bohr will also publish a research report on how to improve the efficiency of short-haul aircraft such as Boeing 737 and Airbus A32 in the next decade. He believes that the new generation of aircraft that replace these aircraft may fly at a slower speed, which will increase the usual flight time of aircraft in Europe by about 1 minutes. They may also use an open-rotor engine, which reduces energy consumption by 2% compared with the current jet engines, but has the disadvantage of greater noise.