Aircraft Reactor Experiment

The Aircraft Reactor Experiment (ARE) was an experimental nuclear reactor designed to test the feasibility of fluid-fuel, high-temperature, high-power-density reactors for the propulsion of supersonic aircraft. It operated between November 8-12, 1954 at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) with a maximum sustained power of 2.5 megawatts (MW), and generated a total of 96 MW-hours of energy.

The ARE was the first reactor to use circulating molten salt fuel. The hundreds of engineers and scientists working on ARE provided technical data, facilities, equipment, and experience that enabled the broader development of molten salt reactors as well as liquid metal cooled reactors.