Of nuclear-powered airplanes and the bullet train

A long-forgotten aspect of the nuclear arms race was the costly undertaking by the United States to develop a nuclear-powered aircraft as a strategic bomber.
Even before Allied powers defeated Nazi Germany in 1945, both the United States and the Soviet Union were battling for post-war superiority. With the successful detonation of two atomic bombs — bringing the Pacific Theater hostilities to an abrupt halt — the U.S. had a brief period of nuclear superiority over the USSR.
That woul