Nuclear Power Timeline

	1895	Wilhelm Roentgen, a German physicist, discovered x-rays.

	1898	Marie Curie discovered the radioactive elements radium and polonium.

	1905	Special theory of relativity written. Albert Einstein created a new era of physics when he unified mass, energy, magnetism, electricity, and light. One of the most significant events of the 20th century was Einstein's writing the formula of E=mc²: energy = mass times the square of the speed of light.

	1927	Herman Blumgart, a Boston physician, used radioactive tracers to diagnose heart disease.

	1938	The process of splitting uranium atoms, called nuclear fission, was demonstrated by German scientists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassman.

	1942	The Manhattan Project was formed in the U.S. to secretly build the atomic bomb for use in World War II. First controlled nuclear chain reaction led by Enrico Fermi and other scientists at the University of Chicago. The experiment lasted 28 minutes.

	1945	First test of a nuclear weapon, called the “Trinity” test, in Alamogordo, New Mexico. U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and three days later dropped another one on Nagasaki, Japan. Japan surrendered less than two weeks later, ending World War II.

	1946	Atomic Energy Act (AEA) of 1946 was passed, establishing the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) to control nuclear energy development and explore peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy established.

	1949	The Soviet Union detonated its first atomic device.

	1951	In December 1951, an experimental breeder reactor (EBR Reactor in Idaho) produced the first usable electric power from the atom, lighting four light bulbs. Scientists had already known that nuclear power could produce electricity. The purpose of the experimental EBR was to prove that a breeder reactor could produce more fuel than it used.

	1953	The first nuclear powered submarine, U.S.S. Nautilus, was launched. Eisenhower's "Atoms-for-Peace" Program proposed an international agency to develop peaceful nuclear technologies.

	1954	Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the first major amendment of the original Energy Act, gave the civilian nuclear energy program further access to nuclear technology.

	1955	The Atomic Energy Commission announced the beginning of a cooperative program between government and industry to develop nuclear power plants. First U.S. town was powered by nuclear energy (Arco, Idaho, population 1,000) by the experimental boiling water reactor BORAX III at the Idaho National Energy Laboratory. First international conference on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy is held in Geneva, Switzerland, sponsored by the United Nations.

	1957	First power generated from a civilian nuclear plant at Santa Susana, California. Price-Anderson Act enacted. This legislation was designed limit the financial risk of nuclear plant owners in the event of an accident. First full-scale nuclear power plant (Shippingport, Pennsylvania) began service. The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) was formed with 18 member countries to promote peaceful uses of nuclear energy and to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons. The Soviet Union launched the first nuclear powered surface ship, the Lenin.

	1959	First U.S. plant (Dresden-1 Nuclear Power Station in Illinois) built entirely without government funding, achieved a self-sustaining nuclear reaction.

	1960	The Atomic Energy Commission published its 10-year plan for nuclear energy. Small nuclear-power generators were first used in remote areas to power weather stations and to light buoys for sea navigation.

	1962	First nuclear-powered merchant ship, N.S. Savannah, was put to sea. The Savannah was christened by Mrs. Dwight D. Eisenhower in 1959, and was shown as an example of the peaceful use for nuclear power. The use of the Savannah as a cargo ship was delayed until 1964 due to publice hearings, safety testing and labor disputes.

	1963	First nuclear plant (Jersey Central Power and Light Company, Oyster Creek Plant) was ordered as an economical alternative to a fossil-fuel plant.

	1964	Private Ownership of Special Nuclear Materials Act was signed , allowing the nuclear energy industry to own the fuel for its units. After June 30, 1973, private ownership of the uranium fuel became mandatory. The U.S. Navy sent three nuclear powered surface ships (Enterprise, Long Beach and Bainbridge) on an around-the-world cruise to show the ability of nuclear powered ships to operate away from shore bases. The Atomic Energy Commission issued a construction permit for Oyster Creek nuclear power plant.

	1965	First nuclear reactor, a 500-Watt system, operated in space. (It operated for 43 days and remains in orbit.) The Atomic Energy Commission gave the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder reactor highest priority and decided to build the Fast Flux Test Facility. First major electrical blackout occured in the Northeast United States.

	1968	Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT)—called for halting the spread of nuclear weapons capabilities.

	1970	First Earth Day celebrated. Electricity "brownouts" hit the Northeast during a heat wave.

	1971	President Nixon announced a national goal of completing the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder unit by 1980.

	1973	President Nixon proposed replacing the Atomic Energy Commission with the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agreed to use oil as a foreign policy weapon, cutting exports 5 percent until Israel withdrew from Arab territory occupied during the Yom Kippur War. Days later, Saudi Arabia cut oil production by 25 percent and joined many other oil-producing nations in embargoing oil shipments to the United States. U.S. utilities ordered 41 nuclear power plants, a one-year record.

	1974	The first 1,000-Megawatt nuclear plant went into service (Commonwealth Edison's Zion 1 plant). Atomic Energy Commission was abolished and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC) was created to regulate the nuclear industry. The Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy was also abolished.

	1975	Energy Research and Development Administration began operating.

	1977	President Carter combined the Energy Research and Development Administration with the Federal Energy Administration, creating the Department of Energy. The Voyager 2 spacecraft was launched into space. The spacecraft's electricity was generated by the decay of plutonium pellets.

	1979	A major accident occured at Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. No one was directly injured in the accident but thousands of people evacuated the area and it caused a public scare. Concerns from the accident led to many safety improvements for nuclear power industry in the United States. U.S. nuclear energy industry created the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations to address issues of safety and performance. President Carter, completing a process begun by President Ford, banned nuclear fuel used at power plants from being reprocessed. The purpose of the ban was to prevent the used fuels from falling into the wrong hands and being used for nuclear weapons.

	1980	Nuclear energy generated more electricity than oil in the United States.

	1981	President Reagan lifted the ban on reprocessing used nuclear fuel.

	1983	Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982 was signed, approving the development of a high-level nuclear waste repository. Nuclear energy generated more electricity than natural gas.

	1984	Nuclear replaced hydropower as the second-largest source of electricity in the United States, after coal.

	1986	The Perry power plant in Ohio became the 100th U.S. nuclear power plant in operation. The world's worst nuclear power accident happened at the Chernobyl plant in the former USSR (now Ukraine).

	1987	Congress selected Yucca Mountain in Nevada for study as the first high-level nuclear waste repository site.

	1989	Nuclear power plants provided 19 percent of the electricity used in the United States; 46 units entered service during the decade.

	1992	Energy Policy Act reformed the licensing process for nuclear power plants.

	1993	Two decades after the first oil embargo, the 109 nuclear power plants operating in the United States provided about one-fifth of the nation's electricity.

	1994	The Nuclear Regulatory Commission(NRC) issued final design approval for the first two of four advanced nuclear power plant designs�General Electric's Advanced Boiling Water Reactor (ABWR) and ABB Combustion Engineering's System 80+.

	1996	The NRC granted the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) a full-power license for its Watts Bar 1 nuclear power plant, bringing the number of operating nuclear units in the United States to 110. Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 6, the world's first Advanced Boiling Water Reactor, began commercial service.

	1997	The NRC issued design certification for the General Electric Advanced Boiling Water Reactor.

	1998	Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. submitted an application to renew the license of its two-unit Calvert Cliffs nuclear power plant�the first U.S. company to apply for a 20-year extension of its 40-year license.

	2000	The NRC issued the first-ever license renewal to Constellation Energy's Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, allowing an additional 20 years of operation. The NRC approved a 20-year extension to the operating license of Duke Energy's three-unit Oconee Nuclear Station.

	2001	The National Energy Plan was published in May 2001. The Plan included a significant role for nuclear power in meeting energy demand and reducing air pollution levels.

	2002	April 30, the oldest nuclear power plant in the world, Obninsk (located in Russia), closed down its sole reactor. � Nuclear power provided about 16% of the world's electricity.

	2003	On August 14th, the Nation's largest-ever power outage left much of the Northeast and parts of Canada without electricity for several days. A transmission line in Ohio, strained the electrical system so much that plants all over the grid, including nine U.S. and eight Canadian commercial nuclear reactors, were shut down.

	2004	The British Nuclear Group announced the closing of the Chapelcross nuclear power plant, one of the world’s oldest plants.

	2005	January 3rd, Lithuania, the world’s most nuclear-dependent nation, began the complete and final shutdown of one-half of its nuclear capacity. Lithuania's nuclear reactors are being shutdown due to safety concerns. They have the same design as the reactors at Chernobyl, the site of the world's worst nuclear accident. Polish Government decided to build nation’s first nuclear power plant. August 8th, President Bush signed the Energy Policy Act of 2005, which included measures to encourage the nuclear industry to build new nuclear power plants. (No construction of a nuclear plant has begun since 1971.)

Last Revised: October 2005