The Convair X-6 was a proposed project to develop and test a nuclear-powered jet aircraft.

The project was to use a Convair B-36 bomber as a testbed aircraft; however, the programme
was cancelled before the actual X-6 and its nuclear reactor engines could be completed. The
X-6 was part of a larger series of programmes that ran from 1946 to 1961 and cost a total of
$7 billion. It was hypothesised that nuclear-powered strategic bombers would be able to
remain airborne for weeks because their range would not have been limited by liquid jet fuel.
The first modified B-36 was the Nuclear Test Aircraft (NTA), a B-36H-20-CF (serial number
51-5712) that was damaged by a tornado on September 1,1952 at Carswell AFB. This aircraft
was renamed XB-36H, then NB-36H, and modified to carry an air-cooled, 3-megawatt
nuclear reactor in its bomb bay. The Aircraft Shield Test Reactor (ASTR) was functional, but
it did not power the aircraft. Water was pumped through the reactor core and then to water-
to-air heat exchangers to dissipate the heat into the atmosphere. Its sole objective was to
examine the impact of radiation on aircraft systems. The nose section of the aircraft was
modified to include a 12-ton lead and rubber shield to protect the flight crew. The standard
windshield was replaced with one made of acrylic glass with a thickness of 6 inches (15 cm).
Variable amounts of lead and water shielding were used. The resulting radiation levels were
measured and compared to the calculated levels in order to improve the capability to design
optimal shielding with minimal weight for nuclear-powered bombers. Between September
17, 1955 and March 1957, the NTA completed 47 test flights and 215 flight hours (during 89
of which the reactor was operated) over New Mexico and Texas. This was the only known
U.S. experiment with an operational nuclear reactor aboard an aircraft. In 1958, when the
Nuclear Aircraft Program was cancelled, the NB-36H was scrapped in Fort Worth. After
being removed from the NB-36H, the ASTR was transferred to the National Aircraft
Research Facility. In 1961, based on the findings of the NTA, the X-6 and the entire nuclear
aircraft programme were cancelled.