Mini-atomic bombs would be used to fight forest fires or dig a new Panama Canal. Atomic batteries would power ships and automobiles. Skies would be full of commercial airplanes powered by nuclear reactors. Atomic rockets would send men to the moon and beyond. Nuclear generators would make electricity too cheap to meter.
Nothing seems to be outside human reach using radioactive materials.
Some of these notions were doomed to failure from the start. Research on radioactive fallout made it clear that fire fighting with atomic weapons, no matter how small the bomb, was not practical. Mack, who formerly worked at NASA, said a nuclear power treaty between the United States and the Soviet Union which prohibited nuclear bombs in space ended work on Orion. Nuclear-powered airplanes also proved impractical, Mack said. Because of the shielding needed to protect those on board from radiation, the planes tested were so heavy they could barely get off the ground.