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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.
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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).
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The Shippingport Atomic Power Station, the world's first full-scale nuclear power plant, becomes operational at Shippingport, Pennsylvania.
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President Eisenhower announces a moratorium on nuclear weapons testing to begin on October 31.
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The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is created by Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, and Venezuela.
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John F. Kennedy is inaugurated President.
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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.
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East Germany begins construction of the Berlin Wall, which closes all land routes between East and West Berlin.
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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.
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The U.S. resumes nuclear weapons testing, with an underground test at the Nevada Test Site.
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AEC awards a contract to Stanford University for the construction of the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center.
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As part of the Plowshare program seeking to develop peaceful uses for nuclear explosives, AEC conducts the Sedan test at the Nevada Test Site.
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Reconnaissance reveals Soviet missiles in Cuba. The United States blockades Cuba for 13 days until the Soviet Union agrees to remove its missiles.
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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.
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Lyndon B. Johnson becomes President.
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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.
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The U.S. launches the first nuclear reactor in space (SNAP-10A). SNAP stands for Systems for Nuclear Auxiliary Power.
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AEC makes the Liquid Metal Fast Breeder Reactor its highest reactor development priority.
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The first major power blackout covers the northeast United States.
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The Six Day War in the Middle East closes the Suez Canal, giving rise to the widespread use of supertankers to transport crude oil.
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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.
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The Atlantic Richfield Company and Humble Oil and Refining Company announce the discovery of oil on the North Slope of Alaska at Prudhoe Bay.
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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.
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President Johnson signs the National Environmental Policy Act.
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Richard M. Nixon is inaugurated President.
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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.
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The United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and forty-five other nations sign the Treaty for the Nonproliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
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Electric power "brownouts" hit the northeast during heatwave.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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President Nixon establishes the Energy Policy Office. The office is responsible for formulating and coordinating energy policies at the presidential level.
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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."
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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.
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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.
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President Nixon signs the Federal Administration Act of 1974. The Federal Energy Administration replaces the Federal Energy Office.
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Gerald R. Ford becomes President.
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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.
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President Ford appoints Frank Zarb as administrator of the Federal Energy Administration.
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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.
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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.
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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.