Nuclear history of the United States
Nuclear history of the United States describes the history of nuclear affairs in the United States whether civilian or military.
Timeline
Manhattan Project
The pre-Hiroshima nuclear history of the United States began with the Manhattan Project. This Manhattan Project was the nuclear program for warfare.
Even before the first nuclear weapons had been developed, scientists involved with the Manhattan Project were divided over the use of the weapon. The role of the two atomic bombings of the country in Japan's surrender and the U.S.'s ethical justification for them has been the subject of scholarly and popular debate for decades. The question of whether nations should have nuclear weapons, or test them, has been continually and nearly universally controversial.[1]
Hiroshima and Nagasaki
The
In 1945, the pocketbook The Atomic Age heralded the untapped atomic power in everyday objects and depicted a future where fossil fuels would go unused. Glenn T. Seaborg, who chaired the Atomic Energy Commission, wrote "there will be nuclear powered earth-to-moon shuttles, nuclear powered artificial hearts, plutonium heated swimming pools for SCUBA divers, and much more".
During the 1950s, civilian use of the nuclear was also developed. This period was characterized by the phrase "
Development of nuclear-powered matters
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Carter_leaving_Three_Mile_Island.jpg/220px-Carter_leaving_Three_Mile_Island.jpg)
Unexpectedly high costs in the nuclear weapons program, along with competition with the Soviet Union and a desire to spread democracy through the world, created "...pressure on federal officials to develop a civilian nuclear power industry that could help justify the government's considerable expenditures."
The
1970s and 1980s
On 28 March 1979, the
.Following the Three Mile Island accident, changing economics, increasing regulation, and public opposition many planned nuclear power projects were canceled. More than a hundred orders for nuclear power reactors, many already under construction, were canceled in the 1970s and 1980s, bankrupting some companies. A cover story in the 1985 issue of
During the second half of the 1980s, the reduction of nuclear weapons was carried out initiated by the perestroika of the Soviet Union. This reduction of nuclear weapons was characterized such as the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (1987) and the START I (1991).
After the Cold War
After the Cold War, dramatic changes of the nuclear affairs of the United States are small. Nuclear equipments whether civilian or military are the same scale as the 1980s.
Civilian nuclear matters
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/33/TMI_cleanup-2.jpg/220px-TMI_cleanup-2.jpg)
Nuclear safety and security in the U.S. is governed by federal regulations issued by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC). The NRC regulates all nuclear plants and materials in the U.S. except for nuclear plants and materials controlled by the U.S. government, as well those powering naval vessels.[5][6]
The 1979
The national U.S.
In 2002, the USA had what former NRC Commissioner
Following the Japanese 2011
In October 2011, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission instructed agency staff to move forward with seven of the 12 safety recommendations put forward by the federal task force in July. The recommendations include "new standards aimed at strengthening operators’ ability to deal with a complete loss of power, ensuring plants can withstand floods and earthquakes and improving emergency response capabilities". The new safety standards will take up to five years to fully implement.[14]
Date | Plant | Location | Description | Cost (in millions $2006 ) |
---|---|---|---|---|
March 28, 1979 | Three Mile Island | Londonderry Township, Pennsylvania | Loss of coolant and partial core meltdown, see Three Mile Island accident and Three Mile Island accident health effects | US$2,400 |
March 9, 1985 | Browns Ferry |
Athens, Alabama | Instrumentation systems malfunction during startup, which led to suspension of operations at all three Units | US$1,830 |
April 11, 1986 | Pilgrim |
Plymouth, Massachusetts | Recurring equipment problems force emergency shutdown of Boston Edison's plant | US$1,001 |
March 31, 1987 | Peach Bottom | Delta, Pennsylvania | Units 2 and 3 shutdown due to cooling malfunctions and unexplained equipment problems | US$400 |
December 19, 1987 | Nine Mile Point | Scriba, New York | Malfunctions force Niagara Mohawk Power Corporation to shut down Unit 1 | US$150 |
February 20, 1996 | Millstone |
Waterford, Connecticut | Leaking valve forces shutdown of Units 1 and 2, multiple equipment failures found | US$254 |
September 2, 1996 | Crystal River |
Crystal River, Florida | Balance-of-plant equipment malfunction forces shutdown and extensive repairs | US$384 |
February 1, 2010 | Vermont Yankee | Vernon, Vermont | Deteriorating underground pipes leak radioactive tritium into groundwater supplies | US$700 |
Military nuclear matters
![The airburst nuclear explosion of July 1, 1946. Photo taken from a tower on Bikini Island, 3.5 miles (5.6 km) away.](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/f/f4/Able_crossroads.jpg/220px-Able_crossroads.jpg)
Between 1940 and 1996, the U.S. spent at least $11.3 trillion in present-day terms
As of February 2006, over $1.2 billion in compensation was paid to U.S. citizens exposed to nuclear hazards as a result of the U.S. nuclear weapons program, and by 1998, at least $759 million was paid to the Marshall Islanders in compensation for their exposure to U.S. nuclear testing.[20][21]
In 2010, the United States maintained an arsenal of 5,113 warheads[22] and facilities for their construction and design, though many of the Cold War facilities have since been deactivated and are sites for environmental remediation. On December 5, 2012, the National Nuclear Security Administration announced that the U.S. conducted its 27th subcritical underground nuclear test since 1992, when the U.S. ended test nuclear explosions.[23]
References
- ^ Jerry Brown and Rinaldo Brutoco (1997). Profiles in Power: The Anti-nuclear Movement and the Dawn of the Solar Age, Twayne Publishers, pp. 191–192.
- ^ John Byrne and Steven M. Hoffman (1996). Governing the Atom: The Politics of Risk, Transaction Publishers, p. 136.
- ^ Benjamin K. Sovacool. The costs of failure: A preliminary assessment of major energy accidents, 1907–2007, Energy Policy 36 (2008), p. 1808.
- Forbes magazine.
- ^ About NRC, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Retrieved 2007-6-1.
- ^ Our Governing Legislation, U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Retrieved 2007-6-1.
- ^ a b Nathan Hultman & Jonathan Koomey (1 May 2013). "Three Mile Island: The driver of US nuclear power's decline?". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
- ^ a b Michael Kenney. Tracking the protest movements that had roots in New England The Boston Globe, December 30, 2009.
- ^ Stephanie Cooke (March 19, 2011). "Nuclear power is on trial". CNN. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
- ^ Mark Cooper (2012). "Nuclear safety and affordable reactors: Can we have both?" (PDF). Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists.
- ^ Eric Wesoff, Greentechmedia. "Black & Veatch’s 2011 Electric Utility Survey." June 16, 2011. Retrieved October 11, 2011.
- ^ a b Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2011). "The Future of the Nuclear Fuel Cycle" (PDF). p. xv.
- ^ Mark Cooper (July 2011). "The implications of Fukushima: The US perspective". Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists. p. 9.
- ^ Andrew Restuccia (2011-10-20). "Nuke regulators toughen safety rules". The Hill. Archived from the original on 2012-01-14.
- ^ Benjamin K. Sovacool. A Critical Evaluation of Nuclear Power and Renewable Electricity in Asia, Journal of Contemporary Asia, Vol. 40, No. 3, August 2010, pp. 393–400.
- ^ Benjamin K. Sovacool (2009). The Accidental Century – Prominent Energy Accidents in the Last 100 Years Archived 2012-08-21 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ 1634–1699: McCusker, J. J. (1997). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States: Addenda et Corrigenda (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1700–1799: McCusker, J. J. (1992). How Much Is That in Real Money? A Historical Price Index for Use as a Deflator of Money Values in the Economy of the United States (PDF). American Antiquarian Society. 1800–present: Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis. "Consumer Price Index (estimate) 1800–". Retrieved February 29, 2024.
- ^ "Estimated Minimum Incurred Costs of U.S. Nuclear Weapons Programs, 1940–1996". Brookings Institution. Archived from the original on 2013-10-04. Retrieved 2013-08-18.
- ^ Paine, Christopher E.; Cochran, Thomas B.; Norris, Robert S. (4 January 1996). "The Arsenals of the Nuclear Weapons Powers: An Overview" (PDF). Natural Resources Defense Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
- ^ "50 Facts About U.S. Nuclear Weapons". Brookings Institution. 1998. Archived from the original on 2016-03-13.
- ^ "Radiation Exposure Compensation System Claims to Date Summary of Claims Received by 08/15/2013 All Claims" (PDF). United States Department of Justice. 16 August 2013. – updated regularly
- ^ Mohammed, Arshad; Stewart, Phil (3 May 2010). "U.S. says nuclear arsenal includes 5,113 warheads". Reuters.
- Frank von Hippel, Subcritical experiments, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists (December 14, 2012).