How were nuclear aircraft supposed to work?

The reactor created the heat, which was used to expand the air, this then turned the air turbine, basically the same way they work today by expanding air....the problem was the radioactive exhausted air, and the lack of shielding of the pilots from the reactor, due to weight restrictions....

https://silodrome.com/nuclear-powered-planes/

..."The first modified B-36 was called the Nuclear Test Aircraft (NTA), a B-36H-20-CF (Serial Number 51-5712) that had been damaged in a tornado at Carswell AFB on September 1, 1952. This plane was redesignated the XB-36H, then the NB-36H and was modified to carry a 3 megawatt, air-cooled nuclear reactor in its bomb bay. The reactor, named the Aircraft Shield Test Reactor (ASTR), was operational but did not power the plane. Water, acting as both moderator and coolant, was pumped through the reactor core and then to water-to-air heat exchangers to dissipate the heat to the atmosphere. Its sole purpose was to investigate the effect of radiation on aircraft systems.^{[citation needed]}

To shield the flight crew, the nose section of the aircraft was modified to include a 12-ton lead and rubber shield. The standard windshield was replaced with one made of 6-inch-thick (15 cm) acrylic glass. The amount of lead and water shielding was variable. Measurements of the resulting radiation levels were then compared with calculated levels to enhance the ability to design optimal shielding with minimum weight for nuclear-powered bombers.^{[citation needed]}

The NTA completed 47 test flights and 215 hours of flight time (during 89 of which the reactor was operated) between September 17, 1955, and March 1957^[2] over New Mexico and Texas.^[1] This was the only known airborne reactor experiment by the U.S. with an operational nuclear reactor on board. The NB-36H was scrapped at Fort Worth in 1958 when the Nuclear Aircraft Program was abandoned. After the ASTR was removed from the NB-36H, it was moved to the National Aircraft Research Facility.^{[citation needed]}

Based on the results of the NTA, the X-6 and the entire nuclear aircraft program was abandoned in 1961."...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Convair_X-6