Five Weird Nuclear-Powered Machines

During the early atomic age, nuclear energy was heralded as the miracle solution that would power everything from wristwatches to entire metropolises. While some visions materialized—nuclear power plants successfully illuminate cities worldwide—many ambitious nuclear-powered contraptions remained experimental curiosities or prototype failures. The story of humanity’s attempts to harness atomic energy extends far beyond conventional power generation, encompassing an astonishing array of machines that ranged from practical engineering marvels to wildly impractical ventures.

These nuclear-powered experiments reveal not just technological ambition, but also the cultural optimism and naivety that characterized the mid-20th century.

The Arctic Titans: Russia’s Nuclear Icebreaker Fleet

While nuclear-powered aircraft carriers are well-known military assets, fewer people realize that civilian nuclear vessels exist and continue operating today. Russia maintains the world’s only fleet of nuclear-powered icebreakers, vessels essential for navigating the frozen Arctic waters that have challenged mariners for centuries.

The history of Russian icebreakers extends back to the 11th century, when northern settlers employed heavily reinforced wooden sailing ships to traverse Arctic seas and Siberian rivers. These vessels evolved alongside technological progress—from wood to steam power in the 19th century, then diesel in the early 20th century, and finally nuclear propulsion for select ships.

The pioneering vessel Lenin entered service in 1959, becoming the world’s first nuclear-powered civilian ship. Powered by three individual miniature nuclear reactors, the Lenin could cut through ice with unprecedented efficiency and possessed essentially unlimited range since her reactors only required refueling every few years—a massive advantage in remote Siberian locations where fuel infrastructure was severely limited.

The Lenin wasn’t flawless. In 1965, one reactor suffered a partial meltdown during refueling when coolant was drained before removing spent fuel—the reverse of proper procedure. Nevertheless, Soviet leadership pressed forward, commissioning the Arktika-class icebreakers. Six of these vessels were eventually built between 1971 and the post-Soviet era, with two still in service today.

The most recent additions belong to the Project 22220 Series, with seven planned vessels. Three have entered service, including the Arktika—named in homage to her Soviet predecessor—which began operations in 2020. These icebreakers serve multiple critical functions: maintaining the Northern Sea Route for year-round commercial, military, and supply vessel passage; supporting Arctic resource extraction including oil, gas, and minerals; and assisting scientific research and polar expeditions. Some even offer tourism packages, providing 13-day voyages to the North Pole—yours for a mere $31,000 to $48,000.

Atomic Automobiles: The Nuclear Car Dream

Despite the glaringly obvious safety concerns—even minor accidents potentially becoming radiological incidents—nuclear-powered automobiles were pursued intensively during the early atomic age.

The most famous example remains the Ford Nucleon, unveiled in 1958. This concept car featured a small, rear-mounted nuclear reactor that would heat water to generate steam, which would drive a turbine connected to the axle—essentially a mobile nuclear power plant. Ford envisioned a transformed automotive landscape where petrol stations would be replaced by reactor swap centers, allowing motorists to exchange depleted reactors for fresh ones as easily as changing batteries, with each reactor providing approximately 5,000 miles of range.

Ford wasn’t alone in this atomic automotive fantasy. The Studebaker-Packard Astral, also unveiled in 1958, took an even more audacious approach with a single gyroscopically-balanced wheel. The Simca Fulgur pushed boundaries further still—designed to showcase “what cars would look like in the year 2000,” it proposed voice control, radar-guided autonomous driving, and wheels that would retract when speeds exceeded 93 mph. While wildly wrong about nuclear propulsion and retractable wheels, Simca’s predictions about voice control and autonomous capabilities proved remarkably prescient.

Ultimately, nuclear-powered cars never materialized, stopped by the sensible recognition that automotive accidents and radioactive materials make a catastrophic combination.

Flying Reactors: Nuclear-Powered Aircraft

If nuclear cars seemed problematic, nuclear aircraft took the concept to new heights—literally. Both the United States and Soviet Union pursued atomic-powered planes during the Cold War, and their motivations contained at least some strategic logic.

Before intercontinental ballistic missiles became reliable and plentiful, strategic bombers served as the primary nuclear weapon delivery systems. The Strategic Air Command kept bombers airborne at the edges of US airspace, ready to turn toward Soviet targets at any moment—a posture that consumed enormous quantities of fuel. A nuclear-powered bomber that never needed refueling seemed like an ideal solution.

The United States established the Nuclear Energy for the Propulsion of Aircraft Project in 1946. These efforts produced the NB-36H, which flew between 1955 and 1957. This modified B-36 carried a one-megawatt air-cooled nuclear reactor weighing 35,000 pounds—but contrary to popular belief, this reactor did not power the aircraft. It only provided data on how reactor presence affected aircraft systems and crew.

The Soviet Union pursued similar research with the Tupolev Tu-95LAL, conducting feasibility studies without actually using nuclear propulsion for flight. Both programs were cancelled as ICBM technology improved sufficiently to eliminate the need for such environmentally risky aircraft.

Atomic Hearts: Nuclear-Powered Pacemakers

Nuclear-powered pacemakers sound absurd—surgically implanting radioactive devices inside human bodies—yet they represent a rare nuclear innovation that actually succeeded and was deployed relatively widely.

The concept addressed a genuine problem: longevity. Chemical batteries in the late 1960s and early 1970s were primitive, requiring frequent surgical replacements. Plutonium-238, with its 88-year half-life, could theoretically power a pacemaker longer than the patient’s lifetime, eliminating repeat surgeries.

The first nuclear pacemaker was implanted in Paris in 1970. Total deployment numbers remain unclear—sources cite anywhere from 600 globally to 1,600 in the United States alone.

The technology worked cleverly. Unlike conventional nuclear reactors using controlled fission, these pacemakers exploited plutonium-238’s natural radioactive decay heat. A thermopile converted this heat directly into electricity, powering the pacemaker without any fission reactions. Multiple layers of titanium and epoxy contained the radioactive material so effectively that patients received no more radiation exposure than from annual dental X-rays.

By the 1980s, lithium battery-powered pacemakers rendered nuclear versions obsolete. As of 2003, evidence suggested 50 to 100 individuals still had nuclear pacemakers—though the current number must be minuscule.

Atomic Beacons: Nuclear-Powered Lighthouses

Nuclear lighthouses represent perhaps the most sensible atomic application on this list. The Soviet Union, custodian of vast stretches of Arctic coastline, faced unique challenges. Regular shipping traversed these waters, necessitating navigational aids, yet traditional diesel power proved unreliable in temperatures dropping to -30 degrees Celsius. Delivering diesel to such remote locations presented logistical nightmares.

These lighthouses didn’t use conventional reactors. Instead, they employed Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs)—similar to pacemaker technology but using strontium-90 rather than plutonium-238—converting radioactive decay heat into electricity through thermopiles. The Soviet Union installed 1,007 RTGs along its Arctic coast, and as far as available records indicate, none suffered accidents during the USSR’s existence.

Post-collapse, however, problems emerged. Following the Soviet Union’s 1991 disintegration, many lighthouses fell into neglect and were abandoned. In 2001, scavengers dismantled two RTGs on the Kola Peninsula, leaving behind radioactive cores emitting up to 1,000 roentgens per hour—sufficient to cause acute radiation poisoning and death within days after just one hour’s exposure. International efforts, including the Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program, worked to secure or dismantle abandoned RTGs, though some sources suggest undocumented devices remain lost.

Frequently Asked Questions

Did any nuclear-powered aircraft actually fly using reactor power?

No. Both the American NB-36H and Soviet Tu-95LAL carried reactors onboard and flew, but neither used nuclear propulsion for actual flight. The reactors were there to gather data on radiation effects on aircraft systems and crew. True nuclear propulsion for aircraft was never achieved.

Are nuclear pacemakers still being implanted today?

No. Lithium batteries made nuclear pacemakers obsolete by the 1980s. A small number of patients—estimated at 50 to 100 as of 2003—still had them in place, but no new nuclear pacemakers have been implanted for decades. The remaining devices are removed after the patient’s death and returned to Los Alamos National Laboratory for plutonium recovery.

Why didn’t nuclear-powered cars work?

The engineering concept was plausible in broad strokes, but the safety problem was insurmountable. Even a minor fender-bender involving a car with a reactor would risk a radiological incident. Beyond accidents, the infrastructure to swap and handle radioactive reactor cores at the equivalent of every petrol station on earth was never realistic.

Sources

• SideProjects editorial research, October 2025.
• US Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion Project documentation, 1946–1961.
• Nunn-Lugar Cooperative Threat Reduction Program reports on Soviet RTG remediation.
• IAEA records on nuclear-powered civilian vessels.