Yes you certainly could. But once you're in orbit you don't really need high thrust anymore, you might as well connect a normal nuclear reactor to an electric drive of some sort. I suppose there are still other places in the solar system you might want to land. Venus and hypothetical floating platforms on Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune might make Orion worthwhile. Orion might also be required to take off from the surface of Jupiter (which has much stronger gravity than the other gas giants). But for other bodies the gravity is light enough that I'd just use nuclear thermal and leave the pusher plate at home. For most space travel the journey is going to take a long time so it doesn't matter if you get up to cruising speed in 15 minutes with your Orion drive or a week with your nuclear electric.
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You could always construct it in orbit too? That might be the safest option?
Yes you certainly could. But once you're in orbit you don't really need high thrust anymore, you might as well connect a normal nuclear reactor to an electric drive of some sort. I suppose there are still other places in the solar system you might want to land. Venus and hypothetical floating platforms on Saturn, Uranus, or Neptune might make Orion worthwhile. Orion might also be required to take off from the surface of Jupiter (which has much stronger gravity than the other gas giants). But for other bodies the gravity is light enough that I'd just use nuclear thermal and leave the pusher plate at home. For most space travel the journey is going to take a long time so it doesn't matter if you get up to cruising speed in 15 minutes with your Orion drive or a week with your nuclear electric.