Is there a future for nuclear powered cars? | Axon’s Automotive Anorak

In a nutshell, the Greens had planned to ban the sale of all new internal combustion engined (ICE)-powered vehicles by 2027, plus far more radically, totally outlaw the use of all ICE vehicles by 2035. This, despite ICE-powered road transport accounting for 'only’ 15 per cent of Europe’s total CO2 emissions, plus no more than 3 per cent of overall global emissions (less than the livestock and the beauty/cosmetics industries), and conveniently overlooking the significant improvements made in recent years by the automotive industry to successfully reduce the emission levels of all ICE power units.

This action would have had very serious implications for us British motorists, as well as ultimately putting paid to all historic motoring events, such as those staged by Goodwood like the Festival of Speed presented by Mastercard, the Revival, and so on.

Part of the radio broadcast I was listening to included a fascinating public phone-in, where the electorate could pose comments and questions about the planned policies of the various parties. The Green Party’s proposed ban on all ICE engines by 2035 provoked an especially strong reaction, with one caller flooring the broadcaster when she asked a question about nuclear power, and why we don’t use it in our cars as it’s a clean fuel!  

Although a nuclear-powered car has yet to become commercially available, we don’t have to look back too far through history to see that the idea has been considered before, sometimes more seriously than others. The dawn of the nuclear age in the middle of the 20^th century brought with it a wealth of possibility when it came to producing energy. Nuclear technology had been harnessed to cause great destruction, but with the amount of supposedly clean energy generated by nuclear fusion seemingly limitless, it's little wonder engineers in the automotive world looked to the new atomic age as a viable source of energy.

Nuclear cars of the 1950s

After all, the energy source was cheap, readily available, supposedly clean and could provide unimaginable fuel economy. The 1950s proved a hotbed of innovation and imagination, with car companies looking for the elusive formula able to transform gas-guzzling automobiles into nuclear-powered vehicles capable of driving 8,000 km (5,000 miles) before needing a top-up of fuel.

 As the following five vehicles show, nuclear-powered cars aren’t a new idea…

1957 Studebaker-Packard Astral

The very first automotive application proposals for a nuclear-powered car came from the USA, from the usually quite conservative Studebaker-Packard consortium. Although never actually built, the Studebaker-Packard group’s Astral concept was the ultimate sci-fi car, combining a nuclear reactor with a single gyroscopic wheel in a concept car that was also claimed to fly. This concept was presented at a time when these once prestigious American car makers were financially on their knees and in the strong need of a publicity boast. 

1957/58 Ford Nucleon

 Although the first of a couple of Ford conceived nuclear-powered concept cars were first presented in the late 1950s, its Nucleon concept never actually made it past the scale model stage. Ford experimented with nuclear fission as a potential source of power for its wildly styled Nucleon concept car, with the vehicle planned to be powered by a small nuclear reactor located at the back of the pick-up style concept.

Taking inspiration from nuclear submarines, a steam engine drove the Nucleon, the required steam generated by uranium fission inside the reactor. Ford reckoned the Nucleon was good for 8,000 km (5,000 miles) of driving between charging stations before needing a top of uranium. Predictably, the Ford didn’t proceed any further with its Nucleon concept.

1958 Arbel Symétric

The sizeable Symétric saloon was based around a one-off Simca-powered hybrid prototype developed by the Loubière brothers in 1951. The ambitious Symétric was offered with a choice of petrol, dual-fuel ‘Genestatfuel’ or a 40kW nuclear generator, dubbed the ‘Genestatom'. The latter was fuelled by ‘energy cartridges’ filled with radioactive nuclear waste that could power the Arbel Symétric for five years or so before needing to be swapped out.

Following its memorable Paris Salon debut, the unusual Arbel Symétric quickly disappeared, never to be seen again and leaving many unpaid creditors in its wake.

1959 Simca Fulgur

At the end of the 1950s, Chrysler’s French car making division Simca attempted to glimpse into the future with its Jetsons-style Fulgur at the 1959 Geneva Salon. The outrageous Fulgur resembled a cross between a small light aircraft and a hovercraft, the concept represented Simca's vision of what cars might look like in the year 2000.

The Fulgur resurfaced at the ’59 Paris Motor Show and did at least provide one realistic glimpse into today's automotive landscape – it was claimed to be voice-controlled and guided by radar and electronic ‘brain’, not all that dissimilar from today's on-going search for full autonomous driving.

1962 Ford Seattle-ite XXI

In 1962 Ford revisited the wild idea of presenting a car for the atomic age with its mad Seattle-ite XXI concept, shown in as a mock-up model at various North American Auto Shows throughout the year. Ford’s Dearborn styling studio spoke of an interchangeable power source - with either electric or nuclear! In the latter form, its propulsion came from a compact nuclear reactor, the generated electricity powering electric motors that in turn drove the wheels.

But while nuclear technology in cars fizzled out as quickly as an atomic reaction, the Seattle-ite XI was packed with futuristic features actually now commonplace in today's cars, including mapping and navigation as well as computer-aided information systems.

Are nuclear cars viable today?

Nuclear technology has improved greatly since the 1950s however, so could we build a nuclear-powered car today? As the UK is now aiming to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, the government is rapidly (but blindly?) accelerating efforts towards the use of electric vehicles. Although it is believed that electric vehicles reduce carbon emissions, there remain many other challenges which need to be addressed. Firstly, electric vehicles are not as clean as they are portrayed, due to the electric grid used to charge vehicles which still relies heavily on fossil fuels. Users also commonly have range anxiety about their vehicles.

 Nuclear energy could address these challenges. The first challenge is the source of electricity. Nuclear energy, being a low-carbon source of energy, can be used to supply charging stations and lower the dependency on fossil fuels. This is an opportunity for small modular reactors (SMRs) to supply on-road charging facilities to tackle range anxiety for electric car users.

Nuclear-fuelled hydrogen could be used to create clean, safe, affordable hydrogen fuel. Nuclear reactors could also power stations where motorists charge highly efficient batteries. Finally, scientists could create a miniature nuclear power plant and stick it in a car, with the benefit that it would rarely need to be refuelled, perhaps every three to five years or so.

The main thing standing in the way of creating a nuclear-powered car however, is that the power source is radioactive, so a car would require lots of shielding. Without proper shielding, the radioactivity of the power source could kill people in and near the car, which would put a damper on any journey.

With all of the shielding required to protect against radioactivity, a nuclear-powered car would end up being extremely heavy. Reproducing the shielding of a nuclear reactor on an appropriate scale may make the car practically immobile, and the shielding must also be resistant to earthquakes and other trauma, and must be airtight so that air laden with radioactive molecules can't escape.

Having radioactive material readily available is a security and public health concern and even uranium that's not highly enriched could be used in a dirty bomb or other harmful radiological device. A nuclear-powered car would have to be immune from such tampering. Then there's also the question of what happens in a car accident. Would the shielding stay intact, even in a catastrophic collision?

Ultimately, the automotive industry abandoned the idea of nuclear power some time ago, as (unsurprisingly) the cons – such as the risk of radiation poisoning and the unthinkable consequences of car crashes, far outweighs the clean fuel list of pros. Due to issues with shielding, weight and radioactivity, it is unlikely that one of these will be lowering a car anytime soon.

Main image courtesy of Getty Images.