Talk:Tupolev Tu-95LAL

some more infos about the TU119
There is a 3-view of the Tu 119 here. http://www.sergib.agava.ru/russia/tupolev/119/images/119_3.jpg The 3-view comes from the official documentation and should be Public Domain.

Also, some infos in Russian about the TU119 can be found here: http://www.testpilot.ru/russia/tupolev/119/119.htm (translation needed)

Description section is confusing
From the article's description section: Although some Western intelligence agencies claimed that the Tu-119 was successfully tested, once more reliable information was available, it was discovered that the Tu-119 was only tested and never put into serial production. This is rather confusing and I suspect the author really means that the Tu-95LAL was successfully tested. It would then logically follow that based on the Tu-95LAL testing program, plans for the construction of the Tu-119 (or even some other designation) were made but they have never progressed beyond the drawing board.

It would appear that the Tu-95LAL testing program was successful in that it proved that the concept of a flying nuclear reactor was indeed possible or at least feasable enough to begin planning for the Tu-119. See: www.tespilot.ru

I'll try and incorporate some of this soon (the translation is difficult to follow...), unless there's any objections of course. --RdeVjun (talk) 02:47, 31 December 2007 (UTC)

Confusion
Someone has confused the Tu-95LAL with the Tu-119. The Tu-95 LAL is the aircraft described in the article. The Tu-119 was to have been the next step with two nuclear powered engines inboard, but the programme was cancelled before the Tu-119 was completed. Can we have the article written to reflect this or better yet, re-name it to the name of the aircraft described!Petebutt (talk) 07:22, 11 February 2012 (UTC)

Shielding efficiency
I find the movie source heavily dubious. Discovery Channel is known to be hugely biased against Soviet tech, and furthermore, I couldn't find any info about reactor shielding being inefficient in Russian sources. There weren't even rumors of a cover-up. In fact, even the most Western sources cited in the article say that the shielding was efficient. Khathi (talk) 10:04, 14 August 2012 (UTC)

And sodium
Article currently reads in part ''The main purpose of the flight phase was examining the effectiveness of the radiation shielding, which was one of the main concerns for the engineers. Liquid sodium, beryllium oxide, cadmium, paraffin wax and steel plates were used for protection.'' (my emphasis)

That's a rather strange claim. Liquid sodium is virtually transparent to neutrons, and not quite as dense as water, so its shielding of gamma is not good either. And those two are the main hazards. Alpha will bounce off a sheet of paper, beta is a little more penetrating but still not a problem. The source given for this particular claim is not online, but if it really says that I question its reliability. Andrewa (talk) 01:47, 16 May 2022 (UTC)