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1
Dr. Enrico Fermi achieves the first controlled nuclear chain reaction with the first demonstration reactor—the Chicago Pile 1. -
2
The U.S. drops an atomic bomb on Hiroshima, Japan, and three days later drops another bomb on Nagasaki. World War II ends days later. -
3
President Harry S. Truman signs the Atomic Energy Act of 1946, putting the fledgling nuclear energy industry under civilian control, and creating the powerful Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy. -
4
The U.S. Atomic Energy Commission first investigates the possibility of peaceful uses of atomic energy, issuing a report the following year. -
5
An experimental reactor produces the first electric power from the atom, lighting four lightbulbs. -
6
Keel for the Navy's first nuclear submarine, Nautilus, laid at Groton, Connecticut. -
7
Nautilus first starts its nuclear power units. -
8
President Dwight D. Eisenhower unveils his "Atoms-for-Peace" program, proposing an international agency to develop peaceful nuclear technologies. -
9
President Eisenhower signs the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, the first major amendment of the original Atomic Energy Act, giving the civilian nuclear energy program further access to nuclear technology. -
10
The Atomic Energy Commission announces the beginning of a cooperative program between government and industry to develop nuclear power plants.