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Dr. Enrico Fermi creates the first controlled nuclear uranium reaction, showing it to the world with a demonstration reactor. -
The US president orders the dropping of two atomic bombs on Japan. Together they killed over 130,000 people, not including the thousands more from radiation poisoning over the next few months. -
The act is created to place the nuclear energy industry under civilian control. The Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy is also created to monitor the new industry.
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President Eisenhower creates an international agency devoted to finding peaceful uses for nuclear energy and technology.
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Arco, Idaho becomes the first US town powered by nuclear energy. The energy was provided by the experimental water-boiling reactor, Borax III.
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A full scale nuclear reactor in Shippingport, Pennsylvania successfully reaches full power within twenty-one days of going online.
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The Dresden 1 Nuclear Power Station in Illinois becomes the first self-sustaining nuclear reactor without government funding.
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President Carter announces a new policy, stating that used nuclear fuel cannot be recycled and reproccessed.
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The American Three Mile Island nuclear reactor at Harrisburg, Pennsylvania explodes due to equipment failure and human error. It became known as the worst nuclear disaster in US history. -
President Reagan passes a policy that requires construction of permanent underground facilities for storing radioactive nuclear waste.
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The Chernobyl nuclear reactor in what was then the Soviet Union explodes, sending massive amounts of nuclear radiation through the Northern Hemisphere. Around 75 million people were exposed to dangerously high levels of radiation. Nearly 30,000 cancer-related deaths ensued over a 50 year period. -
President Bush signs the Energy Policy Act, which reformed and updated the regulations for nuclear energy and power plants.