I'm pretty sure that Robert Heinlein's "juvenile" books (in particular Space Family Stone) were explicitly about solar system rocketry using nuclear reactor driven engines. And NASA did NERVA research early on, but the idea lost momentum (as did the idea of rushing to Mars).
It seems it might become a thing after all:
In less than three years, NASA could be testing a nuclear rocket in space.
The space agency and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, announced on Wednesday that Lockheed Martin had been selected to design, build and test a propulsion system that could one day speed astronauts on a trip to Mars....
“The technical capabilities, including early safety protocols, remain viable today,” Tabitha Dodson, the DRACO project manager, said in a news briefing on Wednesday.
A key difference between NERVA and DRACO is that NERVA used weapons-grade uranium for its reactors, while DRACO will use a less-enriched form of uranium.
The reactor would not be turned on until it reached space, part of the precautions to minimize the possibility of a radioactive accident on Earth.
There will be protests about the danger of one blowing up on the way to orbit, though.
The report also doesn't really make it clear why the idea has been revived...
There is unlimited electrical energy available in space in the inner solar system. So thats where the focus should be. I don't think this is a great idea. I think its probably a bit of a distraction. Still something good could come out of the research project.
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