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Period: to
1955
More than 1,400 scientists from 73 nations attend the first United Nations-sponsored International Conference on the Peaceful Uses of Atomic Energy held in Geneva, Switzerland. -
1957
The Soviet Union successfully launches Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite. Marking the dawn of the Space Age, the event pushes the US government into action and leads to the formation of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). -
1957
The Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the world's first full-scale nuclear power plant, becomes operational at Shippingport, Pennsylvania. -
1958
President Eisenhower announces a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing to begin on October 31. -
1960
The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is created by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela. -
1961
John F. Kennedy is inaugurated President. -
1961
The first radioisotope thermoelectric generator for space applications, providing electrical power for spacecraft by direct conversion of the heat generated by the decay of plutonium-238 oxide to electrical energy, is launched on the Navy Transit 4A spacecraft. -
1961
East Germany begins construction of the Berlin Wall, which closes all land routes between East and West Berlin. -
1961
The Soviet Union breaks the three-year moratorium on nuclear weapons testing. In a period of 60 days, the Soviets conduct 50 atmospheric tests, with a total yield exceeding that of all previous test series, by all nations, combined. -
1961
The U.S. resumes nuclear weapons testing, with an underground test at the Nevada Test Site. -
1962
AEC awards a contract to Stanford University for the construction of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center. -
1962
As part of the Plowshare program seeking to develop peaceful uses for nuclear explosives, AEC conducts the Sedan test at the Nevada Test Site. -
1962
Reconnaissance reveals Soviet missiles in Cuba. The United States blockades Cuba for 13 days until the Soviet Union agrees to remove its missiles. -
1963
The United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union sign the Limited Test Ban Treaty prohibiting underwater, atmospheric, and outer space nuclear tests. Nuclear testing continues underground. -
1963
Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President. -
1963
The Jersey Central Power and Light Company announces the purchase of a 515-megawatt plant from General Electric to be built at Oyster Creek, New Jersey. It is the first nuclear power plant selected on purely economic grounds without government aid and in direct competition with a conventional facility. -
1965
The U.S. launches the first nuclear reactor in space (SNAP-10A). SNAP stands for Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power. -
1965
AEC makes the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor its highest reactor development priority. -
1965
The first major power blackout covers the northeast United States. -
1967
The Six Day War in the Middle East closes the Suez Canal, giving rise to the widespread use of supertankers to transport crude oil. -
1967
President Lyndon Johnson signs a bill authorizing the National Accelerator Laboratory, later renamed the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, for a site at Weston, Illinois, thirty miles west of Chicago. -
1968
The Atlantic Richfield Company and Humble Oil and Refining Company announce the discovery of oil on the North Slope of Alaska at Prudhoe Bay. -
1968
The Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty prohibiting non-nuclear weapon states from possessing, manufacturing, or acquiring nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices is opened for signature. -
1969
President Johnson signs the National Environmental Policy Act. -
1969
Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated President. -
1969
An oil platform six miles off the Santa Barbara, California, coast suffers a blowout, releasing 200,000 gallons of crude oil and creating an 800 square mile oil slick. -
1970
The United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and forty-five other nations sign the Treaty for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons. -
1970
Electric power "brownouts" hit the northeast during heatwave. -
1971
President Nixon announces as a national goal a commitment to complete a Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor demonstration plant by 1980. In what he refers to as the first comprehensive energy message to Congress by a United States president, Nixon calls the breeder reactor the best hope for meeting the growing demand for economical clean energy. -
1972
The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) announces a cooperative agreement with industry to build a Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor on the Clinch River in Tennessee. -
1973
President Nixon directs Dixy Lee Ray, chairman of AEC, to review federal and private energy research and development activities and recommend an integrated national program. -
1973
President Nixon establishes the Energy Policy Office. The office is responsible for formulating and coordinating energy policies at the presidential level. -
1973
The Yom Kippur War breaks out in the Middle East. October 17, 1973, the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries declares an oil embargo, sparking the first "energy crisis." -
1973
President Nixon launches Project Independence, with the goal of achieving energy self-sufficiency by 1980. Recalling the Manhattan Project, Nixon declares that American science, technology, and industry can free the United States from dependence on foreign oil. -
1973
The Federal Energy Office replaces the Energy Policy Office. The new office is assigned the task of allocating reduced petroleum supplies to refiners and consumers and of controlling the price of oil and gasoline. William Simon is named Administrator. -
1974
President Nixon signs the Federal Administration Act of 1974. The Federal Energy Administration replaces the Federal Energy Office. -
1974
Gerald R. Ford becomes President. -
1974
President Ford signs the Energy Reorganization Act of 1974, abolishing AEC and establishing the Energy Research and Development Administration and the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. -
1974
President Ford appoints Frank Zarb as administrator of the Federal Energy Administration. -
1975
The Energy Research and Development Administration is activated. The new agency is given responsibility for the AEC nuclear weapons program. President Ford appoints Robert C. Seamans, Jr., as Administrator. -
1975
The first pipe is laid on the Alaska Pipeline, which will move crude oil 800 miles through a 48-inch pipe from the North Slope of Alaska to the ice-free port of Valdez, Alaska. Construction is completed in two years. -
1975
President Ford signs the Energy Policy and Conservation Act, extending oil price controls into 1979, mandating automobile fuel economy standards, and authorizing the creation of a strategic petroleum reserve.