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No explosions that were unintended. There was one where they intentionally put it into a failure mode (KIWI-B TNT: Jan, 1965) to confirm design predictions and a few occaisions where core fragments were expelled but none of these were runaway nuclear events. As noted the core expulsion issue was fixed. By 1967 the NRX-A6 engine was capable of running 60 minutes at a power level of 1,100+ megawatts, exceeding the NERVA design specs.
As to size; early ones were too big to launch but later designs were launchable from the weight aspect. Ex: NERVA 2 weighed 11,860 kg., less than half the capacity of the shuttle and far below that of todays large boosters. As you can see below it looks a lot like Pratt & Whitney's Triton. The spheres at the top are the fuel tanks;
As to size; early ones were too big to launch but later designs were launchable from the weight aspect. Ex: NERVA 2 weighed 11,860 kg., less than half the capacity of the shuttle and far below that of todays large boosters. As you can see below it looks a lot like Pratt & Whitney's Triton. The spheres at the top are the fuel tanks;
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