Nuclear-powered trains, planes and automobiles

British Airways chief executive, Willie Walsh, last week presented world leaders at the United Nations forum on climate change in New York with a proposal that would see airlines, airports and aircraft companies work together to cut emissions to 50% below 2005 levels by 2050.

However, environmental groups were quick to point out that the plan relied to heavily on the industry funding emissions cuts elsewhere – most likely through offsetting and buying carbon credits.

Nuclear-powered trains

Eurostar responded by pointing out that their high-speed rail service was already achieving a 90% cut in journey emissions, based on research showing that one of their trains generates just 10% of the CO₂ emissions of an equivalent flight.

Under an environmental plan launched in April 2007, Eurostar has a target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions per traveller journey by 35% by 2012, compared with 2007.

A spokesperson for the Environmental Transport Association (ETA) said: “Eurostar has already achieved a 31% cut in journey emissions, a saving that has been made largely through a switch to the use of electricity generated by French nuclear power stations.”

Nuclear-powered planes

Nuclear-powered aircraft were a product of the 1950s, when American engineers went as far as running a nuclear reactor on board a jet with a lead-lined cockpit. The front cover of a magazine of time, pictured right, shows how the US Air Force might use the new aircraft.

There are those who predict that the same technology will allow airliners of the future to produce no carbon emissions and therefore make no contribution to global warming. However, it seems likely that for the time being, safety issues, public acceptance and environmental concerns will keep this idea on the drawing board.

Nuclear-powered cars

Another fantastical idea of the 1950s, a time when the full environmental and safety implications of nuclear power were not fully acknowledged, was the Ford Nucleon nuclear-powered concept car. The vehicle was never built, but was designed to be powered by a small nuclear reactor that would enable it to travel up to 5,000 miles without refuelling.