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Albert Einstein writes President Franklin D. Roosevelt, alerting the President to the importance of research on nuclear chain reactions and the possibility that research might lead to developing powerful bombs. Einstein notes that Germany has stopped the sale of uranium and German physicists are engaged in uranium research.
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President Truman approves a $1.4 billion expansion of Atomic Energy Commission facilities to produce uranium and plutonium for nuclear weapons.
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The Experimental Breeder Reactor No. 1 located at the National Reactor Testing Station near Arco, Idaho, produces the first electric power from a nuclear reactor.
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The first major power blackout covers the northeast United States.
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An accident occurs at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant.
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Secretary Edwards announces placement of the 250-millionth barrel of oil in the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
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President Bush signs the Energy Policy Act of 1992, which assists the implementation of the National Energy Strategy.
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The Department's Fusion Energy Sciences Advisory Committee recommends that the U.S. participate as a full partner in the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER), which includes Canada, Japan, and several European countries.
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The Department begins retrieval of transuranic waste from the low-level burial grounds at Hanford, beating by weeks the first deadline under the October 24 waste cleanup agreement reached with the State of Washington. Workers will retrieve about 38,000 containers (76,000 drum equivalents) in various shapes and stages of integrity. Crews will inspect the containers and characterize their contents to determine final disposition. Transuranic waste will ultimately be shipped to DOE's Waste Isolation
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The Department's National Nuclear Security Administration announces the removal of 73.7 kilograms (162.5 pounds) of Russian-origin highly enriched uranium (HEU) "spent" nuclear fuel from Kazakhstan. The material was removed and returned to Russia by rail for storage at a secure nuclear facility in a series of four shipments between December 2008 and May 2009.
