-
This is a timeline of the history in 1980 - 2001. There are many dates that are not included, but theses are a few dates that I researched.
-
Ronal Reagan was president from 1981 to 1989. Through his eight years in office the Cold War came to an end. The country regained its morale, and Americans enjoyed an extended economic boom. -
Robert Pittman, Les Garland, John Sykes, Tom Freston founded the MTV -
James B. Edwards is sworn in as third Secretary of Energy. -
President Reagan signs Executive Order 12287, which provides for the decontrol of crude oil and refined petroleum products. -
Secretary Edwards announces a major reorganization of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to improve management and increase emphasis on research, development, and production -
The Reagan Administration announces a nuclear energy policy that anticipates the establishment of a facility for the storage of high-level radioactive waste and lifts the ban on commercial reprocessing of nuclear fuel. -
President Reagan proposes legislation transferring most responsibilities of DOE to the U.S. Department of Commerce. -
President Reagan signs the Nuclear Waste Policy Act of 1982, the nation's first comprehensive nuclear waste legislation. -
DOE establishes the Civilian Radioactive Waste Management Office. -
The National Coal Council is established to advise both government and industry on ways to improve cooperation in areas of coal. -
John S. Herrington is sworn in as fifth Secretary of Energy. -
A major nuclear accident occurs at Chernobyl Reactor #4 near Pripyat, Ukraine in the Soviet Union, spreading radioactive contamination over a large area. -
This was invented by Northwest Airlines pilot Robert Plath -
Secretary Herrington announces President Reagan's approval of construction of the Superconducting Super Collider (SSC), the world's largest and most advanced particle accelerator. -
Secretary Herrington designates Texas as the site for the Superconducting Super Collider. -
George H. W. Bush was in office from 1989 - 1993. He brought a wish to make the United States "a kinder and gentler nation -
DOE establishes the Office of Environmental Restoration and Waste Management within DOE. The office consolidates activities that had been spread throughout DOE. -
President Bush declares the end of the Cold War as the Soviet Union collapses. -
This war was fought between 1990 and 1991. The war was fought between Iraq and the coalition forces of 34 nations that were authorized by the UN, after the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The war ended with the coalition victory, and Kuwait was liberated. -
This created a major international crisis. DOE announces plans to increase oil production and decrease consumption to counter Iraqi-Kuwaiti oil losses. -
President George Bush presents the Department's National Energy Strategy to Congress and the American people.
-
President Bush signs the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), which will reduce nuclear weapon stockpiles to 6,000 "accountable" warheads. -
President Bush announces additional unilateral cuts in the nuclear weapon arsenal. -
The United States conducts its last underground nuclear weapons test. Congress imposes a temporary moratorium on nuclear weapons testing. -
President Bush signs the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which assists the implementation of the National Energy Strategy. -
William J. Clinton was president from 1993 - 2001. During Clinton's two presidential terms, Bill Clinton presided over economic expansion and achieved the first budget surplus in decades. After attempting a major reform of the health care system, Clinton shifted his policy focus, declaring that "the era of big government is over." -
Congress votes to terminate the Superconducting Super Collider. -
President Clinton announces that the United States will stabilize greenhouse gas emissions at 1990 levels by the year 2000 -
President Clinton and Vice President Al Gore unveil the Climate Change Action Plan, emphasizing voluntary measures to stabilize greenhouse gas emissions. -
The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) announces the completion of a highly classified interagency operation to transfer weapons-grade highly enriched uranium out of Kazakhstan to DOE's Y-12 Plant at Oak Ridge, Tennessee. -
Physicists at DOE's Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory announce the discovery of the subatomic particle called the top quark, the last undiscovered quark of the six predicted to exist by current scientific theory. -
Vitrification in glass canisters of highly radioactive liquid wastes begins at the West Valley Demonstration Project in upstate New York. -
The Plutonium Uranium Extraction Facility (PUREX), the largest of the Nation's Cold War plutonium processing plants, is deactivated a year ahead of schedule -
The Senate unanimously confirms the nomination of Bill Richardson as Secretary of Energy. -
DOE announces that Savannah River will be the site of a plant that will disassemble pits from nuclear weapons and convert the recovered metal to an oxide, beginning a process of destroying rather than creating weapons-grade plutonium. -
Secretary Richardson announces the return of 90,000 acres of oil-rich lands to the Northern Ute Tribe, one of the largest voluntary returns of Indian lands ever. -
This war was fought between 2001 and on going. Operation Enduring Freedom is the U.S. led effort to drive al-Qaeda and Taliban forces from power in Afghanistan. The war is still ongoing today. -
President-elect Bush nominates outgoing Senator Spencer Abraham (R-Michigan) as Secretary of Energy.