saying there is no need for a rocket capable of lifting a 1000 ton payload is like saying there was no need for diesel turbines when we were using clipperships. If a 1000 ton lifter was available and reasonbly priced big payloads would we standing in line. The internation space station could have been launched in a couple of launches instead of many shuttles launches. A mars space ship could be launched in two launches. obiting hotels could e put in 1000 ton sections. maybe more importantly the liberty ship launchers could be made much more robust so they would be less likely to fail, they would land under power instead of using dangerous friction reentry and bring back huge payloads. Even if a liberty ship booster were to sustan a catistrophic failure it wouldn't release very much radioactivity into the atmosphere. If the containment was completely breached it would only release about 1% of what was released during one atmospheric test back in the 1950's. They released 1000's of times as much as a nuclear liberty ship could in a worse case senerio. so not only would they be safe they would make space access mcuh faster, cheaper, and more reliable. BTW a solid core nuclear rocket would release several times as much radioactive debris in a catistrophic failure that the gas core reactor would.

Moon