NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT TIMELINE

NUCLEAR TECHNOLOGIES TIMELINE

1900s

Special Theory of Relativity

German-born physicist Albert Einstein introduces his special theory of relativity, which states that the laws of nature are the same for all observers and that the speed of light is not dependent on the motion of its source. 

 

The existence of proton

The New Zealander Ernest Rutherford, who demonstrated in 1919 the discovered the existence of protons.

1930s

Neutron is discovered

English physicist and Nobel laureate James Chadwick exposes the metal beryllium to alpha particles and discovers the neutron, an uncharged particle

 

Cockcroft teams Walton to split the atom

British physicist John Cockcroft teams with Ernest Walton of Ireland to split the atom with protons accelerated to high speed

 5-million-volt Van de Graaff generator built

The Westinghouse Corporation builds the 5-million-volt Van de Graaff generator. Named for its inventor, physicist Robert Van de Graaff, the generator gathers and stores electrostatic charges. Released in a single spark and accelerated by way of a magnetic field, the accumulated charge, equivalent to a bolt of lightning, can be used as a particle accelerator in atom smashing and other experiments.

 

Uranium atoms are split

Physicists Otto Hahn and Fritz Strassmann of Germany, along with Lise Meitner of Austria and her nephew Otto Frisch, split uranium atoms in a process known as fission. The mass of some of the atoms converts into energy, thus proving Einstein’s original theory.

Manhattan Project

The U.S. Army’s top-secret atomic energy program, known as the Manhattan Project, employs scientists in Los Alamos, New Mexico, under the direction of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer, to develop the first transportable atomic bomb. The project been carried on until year 1945.

1940s

First controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction

Italian-born physicist and Nobel winner Enrico Fermi and his colleagues at the University of Chicago achieve the first controlled, self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in which neutrons released during the splitting of the atom continue splitting atoms and releasing more neutrons.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki

To force the Japanese to surrender and end World War II, the United States drops atomic bombs on Hiroshima, an important army depot and port of embarkation, and Nagasaki, a coastal city where the Mitsubishi torpedoes used in the attack on Pearl Harbor were made.

 

First nuclear-reactor-produced radioisotopes for peacetime civilian use

The U.S. Army's Oak Ridge facility in Tennessee ships the first nuclear-reactor-produced radioisotopes for peacetime civilian use to Brainard Cancer Hospital in St. Louis.

Atomic Energy Commission

The U.S. Congress passes the Atomic Energy Act to establish the Atomic Energy Commission, which replaces the Manhattan Project. The commission is charged with overseeing the use of nuclear technology in the postwar era.

Plans to commercialize nuclear power

The U.S. government’s Argonne National Laboratory, operated in Illinois by the University of Chicago, and the Westinghouse Corporation’s Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory in Pittsburgh, announce plans to commercialize nuclear power to produce electricity for consumer use.

1950s

Experimental Breeder Reactor 1

Experimental Breeder Reactor 1 at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory (INEEL) produces the world’s first usable amount of electricity from nuclear energy. When neutrons released in the fission process convert uranium into plutonium, they generate, or breed, more fissile material, thus producing new fuel as well as energy. No longer in operation, the reactor is now a registered national historic landmark and is open to the public for touring.

 

First of a series of Boiling Reactor Experiment reactors

BORAX-I, the first of a series of Boiling Reactor Experiment reactors, is built at INEEL. The series is designed to test the theory that the formation of steam bubbles in the reactor core does not cause an instability problem. BORAX-I proves that steam formation is, in fact, a rapid, reliable, and effective mechanism for limiting power, capable of protecting a properly designed reactor against "runaway" events.

First nuclear-powered submarine

The USS Nautilus SSN 571, the world’s first nuclear-powered submarine, gets under way on sea trials. The result of the efforts of 300 engineers and technicians working under the direction of Admiral Hyman Rickover, "father of the nuclear navy," it is designed and built by the Electric Boat Company of Groton, Connecticut, and outfitted with a pressurized-water reactor built by the Westinghouse Corporation’s Bettis Atomic Power Laboratory. In 1958 the Nautilus is the first ship to voyage under the North Pole.

 

1960s

First advanced gas-cooled reactor

The first advanced gas-cooled reactor is built at Calder Hall in England. Intended originally to power a naval vessel, the reactor is too big to be installed aboard ship and is instead successfully used to supply electricity to British consumers. A smaller pressurized-water reactor, supplied by the United States, is then installed on Britain’s first nuclear-powered submarine, the HMS Dreadnaught.

 

Advanced Testing Reactor

The Advanced Testing Reactor at the Idaho National Engineering and Environmental Laboratory begins operation for materials testing and isotope generation.

1970s

Three Mile Island

The nuclear facility at Three Mile Island near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, experiences a major failure when a water pump in the secondary cooling system of the Unit 2 pressurized-water reactor malfunctions. A jammed relief valve then causes a buildup of heat, resulting in a partial meltdown of the core but only a minor release of radioactive material into the atmosphere.

1980s

Chernobyl

The Chernobyl nuclear disaster occurs in Ukraine during unauthorized experiments when four pressurized-water reactors overheat, releasing their water coolant as steam. The hydrogen formed by the steam causes two major explosions and a fire, releasing radioactive particles into the atmosphere that drift over much of the European continent.

 

1990s

U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program

The U.S. Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program pioneers new materials and develops improved material fabrication techniques, radiological control, and quality control standards.

 

 

2000s

World record reliability benchmarks

The fleet of more than 100 nuclear power plants in the United States achieve world record reliability benchmarks, operating annually at more than 90 percent capacity for the last decade—the equivalent of building 10 gigawatt nuclear power plants in that period. In the 21 years since the Three Mile Island accident, the fleet can claim the equivalent of 2,024.6 gigawatt-years of safe reactor operation, compared to a total operational history of fewer than 253.9 gigawatt-years before the accident. Elsewhere in the world, nuclear power energy production grows, most notably in China, Korea, Japan, and Taiwan, where more than 28 gigawatts of nuclear power plant capacity is added in the last decade of the century.