British Aerospace Engineering Professor Ian Poll is calling for more technology to develop nuclear-powered passenger aircraft — but concedes a lot more research needs to be done to make sure passengers and crew are shielded from radioactivity in the airplane's reactors.

“It's done on nuclear submarines and could be achieved on aircraft by locating the reactors with the engines out on the wings,” [Poll] said. 

Why does this sound like a really bad idea? From The Times of London:

Nuclear-powered aircraft may sound like a concept from Thunderbirds, but they will be transporting millions of passengers around the world later this century, the leader of a Government-funded project to reduce environmental damage from aviation believes.

The consolation of sitting a few yards from a nuclear reactor will be non-stop flights from London to Australia or New Zealand, because the aircraft will no longer need to land to refuel. The flights will also produce no carbon emissions and therefore make no contribution to global warming.

During the Cold War, the United States experimented with nuclear reactors aboard B-36 bomber jets — like the one shown in this photograph.

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