Egregoros

Energy for flight is a big problem because the weight of the fuel is working against you...

But, now that someone's saying it will NEVER happen, someone will probably figure out how to do it - that's kind of how everything tends to work...

@cjd

Nuclear would work to power an electric plane if you could build a small enough reactor.

Use the heat from the reactor to drive a high RPM sterling engine that charges a small battery bank that can power the plane for maybe an hour, and just keep topping it up, and bingo hybrid electric plane.

Unfortunately flying nuclear reactors won't likely get FAA clearance anytime soon 😂

The molten salt reactor (MSRE) has it's origin in the airforce wanting a nuclear plane.

The real problem is the shielding so that it doesn't kill the people on board.

@cjd

A micro helium reactor might do the trick. And it might be possible to use tiny amounts of graphite encased uranium, just enough to power the plane for a few flights. The reactor could be shielded using specialized plastics, and boron. Then there is never enough nuclear fuel in the plane to cause a major nuclear accident. Just drop a few pellets into the reactor and off you go!

IMO more likely that batteries will just continue getting better until they have "enough" power density that when you factor in thermal efficiency of turbines, they are okay enough that the fuel cost difference is worth the payload cost.