A Brief History Of Nuclear Energy

1904
British physicist Ernest Rutherford theorized that if it were possible to control the disintegration of radioactive elements, an enormous quantity of energy could be produced from a very small amount of matter. This became the basis for nuclear power production, where the breakup of small amounts of uranium in a nuclear reactor produces huge amounts of power.

1905
Swiss physicist Albert Einstein developed his famous theory and formula E=mc², or energy equals mass times the speed of light squared. Building off Rutherford’s theory, the formula showed how much energy could be produced.

1942
Physicist Enrico Fermi created the first nuclear reactor, which produced a chain reaction in which atoms were split apart.

1953
The U.S. Navy’s Nautilus tested its nuclear power units for the first time.

1957
First commercial nuclear power plant opened in Shippingport, Pennsylvania.

1973
U.S. utilities place orders for a record 41 nuclear power plants.

1979
The worst accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power history occurred at the Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, leading to stricter reactor safety regulations and tougher inspections.

1983
For the first time, nuclear power generated more electric power than natural gas in the U.S.

1986
Two explosions at the Chernobyl plant killed more than 30 workers, caused the evacuation of more than 100,000 people, and scattered radioactive debris over parts of the former Soviet Union and Europe.

1987
Congress directed the Department of Energy to study only Nevada’s Yucca Mountain as a potential site for disposal of high-level radioactive waste.

1991
Nuclear power produced nearly 22 percent of the electricity consumed in this country.

2008
The U.S. still has no permanent site for the disposal of high-level nuclear waste.

Source: U.S. Department of Energy