Aircraft Reactor Experiment
Videos
The Aircraft Reactor Experiment was an experimental nuclear reactor designed to test the feasibility of fluid-fuel, high-temperature, high-power-density reactors for the propulsion of supersonic aircr
Aircraft Reactor Experiment during assembly showing BeO moderator blocks interlaced with circulating fuel tubes
Natural-convection corrosion test loops used during the Aircraft Nuclear Propulsion project to down-select workable fuel/material combinations
Aircraft Reactor Experiment full-scale mockup with clear tubes. Used to shake down filling and draining processes at low temperature
The molten salt fuel pump used in the Aircraft Reactor Experiment
Helium
Videos
Helium is a chemical element; it has symbol He and atomic number 2. It is a colorless, odorless, non-toxic, inert, monatomic gas and the first in the noble gas group in the periodic table. Its boiling
Aircraft Reactor Experiment
…was pumped through the reactor at a rate of 150 US gal (570 L) per minute with about 50 psi (3.4 bar) of pressure. The fuel salt transferred heat to a helium loop, which then transferred the heat to water. Additionally, the reflector and moderator blocks were cooled with a liquid sodium metal cooling loop…
Helium discharge tube
Spectral lines of helium
Sir William Ramsay, the discoverer of terrestrial helium
The cleveite sample from which Ramsay first purified helium