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Nuclear Power Timeline

  1900's 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, if not the very most significant event, of the 20th century was Einstein's writing the formula of E=mc2: energy = mass times the square of the speed of light. This led to nuclear medicine - and a much longer life span, astrophysics, and commercial nuclear electric power.
     
  1942 First controlled nuclear chain reaction.
     
  1945
  • Trinity Test of the first atomic explosive device at Alamogordo, New Mexico.
  • U.S. drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and three days later drops another bomb on Nagasaki.
    •      
      1946
  • Atomic Energy Act of 1946.
  • Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy established.
    •      
      1951 Experimental reactor produces the first electric power from the atom.
         
      1952 Construction of Navy's first nuclear submarine, Nautilus, started.
         
      1953
  • Nautilus starts its nuclear power units.
  • Eisenhower's "Atoms-for-Peace" Program revealed, proposing an international agency to develop peaceful nuclear technologies.
    •      
      1954 Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the first major amendment of the original Energy Act, gives the civilian nuclear energy program further access to nuclear technology.
         
      1955
  • The Atomic Energy Commission announces the beginning of a cooperative program between government and industry to develop nuclear power plants.
  • First U.S. town is powered by nuclear energy (Arco, Idaho, population 1,000) by the experimental boiling water reactor BORAX III.
  • First international conference on the peaceful uses of nuclear energy is held in Geneva, Switzerland, sponsored by the United Nations.
    •      
      1957
  • First power is generated by the Sodium Reactor Experiment (a civilian nuclear unit) at Santa Susana, California.
  • Price-Anderson Act enacted. This legislation was designed to protect the public, utilities and contractors financially in the event of an accident at a nuclear power plant.
  • First full-scale nuclear power plant (Shippingport, Pennsylvania) goes into service.
    •      
      1959
  • First nuclear-powered merchant vessel (the Savannah) at Camden, New Jersey, is launched.
  • First U.S. plant (Dresden-1 Nuclear Power Station in Illinois) built entirely without government funding, achieves a self-sustaining nuclear reaction.
    •      
      1960
  • The Atomic Energy Commission publishes its 10-year plan for nuclear energy.
  • Small nuclear-power generators are first used in remote areas to power weather stations and to light buoys for sea navigation.
    •      
      1963 First nuclear plant (Jersey Central Power and Light Company, Oyster Creek Plant) is ordered as an economical alternative to a fossil-fuel plant.
         
      1964
  • Private Ownership of Special Nuclear Materials Act, which allows the nuclear energy industry to own the fuel for its units, is signed. After June 30, 1973, private ownership of the uranium fuel became mandatory.
  • Three surface ships powered by the atom (Enterprise, Long Beach and Bainbridge) complete a round-the-world cruise without any logistical support.
  • The Atomic Energy Commission issues Oyster Creek nuclear power plant's construction permit.
    •      
      1965
  • First nuclear reactor operates in space.
  • The Atomic Energy Commission gives the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder reactor highest priority and decides to build the Fast Flux Test Facility.
  • First major electrical blackout occurs in the Northeast United States.
    •      
      1970
  • First Earth Day is celebrated.
  • Electricity "brownouts" hit the Northeast during a heat wave.
    •      
      1971 President Nixon announces a national goal of completing the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder unit by 1980.
         
      1973
  • President Nixon proposes to replace the Atomic Energy Commission with the Energy Research and Development Administration and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
  • The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) agrees to use oil as a foreign policy weapon, cutting exports 5 percent until Israel withdraws from Arab territory occupied during the Yom Kippur War. Days later Saudi Arabia cuts oil production by 25 percent and joins many other oil-producing nations in embargoing oil shipments to the United States.
  • U.S. utilities order 41 nuclear power plants, a one-year record.
    •      
      1974
  • The first 1,000-MWe nuclear plant goes into service (Commonwealth Edison's Zion 1 plant).
  • Atomic Energy Commission is abolished and the Nuclear Regulatory Commission is created to regulate the nuclear industry. The Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy is also abolished.
    •      
      1975 Energy Research and Development Administration begins operating.
         
      1977 President Carter combines the Energy Research and Development Administration with the Federal Energy Administration, creating the Department of Energy.
         
      1979
  • A major accident occurs at Unit 2 of the Three Mile Island nuclear plant near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Damage is limited to inside the reactor, and no one is injured.
  • U.S. nuclear energy industry creates the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations to address issues of safety and performance.
    •      
      1980 Nuclear energy generates more electricity than oil.
         
      1981 Ban on reprocessing used nuclear fuel is lifted.
         
      1983
  • Nuclear Waste Policy Act.
  • Funding for the Clinch River Breeder Reactor project is killed by Congress.
  • Nuclear energy generates more electricity than natural gas.
    •      
      1984 Nuclear overtakes hydropower to become the second-largest source of electricity, after coal.
         
      1986 The Perry power plant in Ohio becomes the 100th U.S. nuclear power plant in operation.
         
      1989 Nuclear power plants provide 19 percent of the electricity used in the United States; 46 units have entered service during the decade.
         
      1992 Energy Policy Act reforms the licensing process for advanced, standardized nuclear power plants.
         
      1993 Two decades after the first oil embargo, the 109 nuclear power plants operating in the United States provide about one-fifth of the nation's electricity.
         
      1994 The Nuclear Regulatory Commission issues 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 grants 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.
  • First-of-a-kind engineering design is completed for the GE Advanced Boiling Water Reactor.
  • Kashiwazaki-Kariwa 6, the world's first Advanced Boiling Water Reactor, begins commercial service ahead of schedule and under budget.
    •      
      1997 The NRC issues design certification for the General Electric Advanced Boiling Water Reactor.
         
      1998 Baltimore Gas and Electric Co. submits an application to the NRC 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.
         
      1999 Entergy Nuclear closes on its purchase of the Pilgrim Station from Boston Edison Co., the first completed nuclear plant sale in the nation.
         
      2000
  • The NRC issues the first-ever license renewal to Constellation Energy's Calvert Cliffs Nuclear Power Plant, allowing an additional 20 years of operation.
  • The NRC approves a 20-year extension to the operating license of Duke Energy's three-unit Oconee Nuclear Station.

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