<P> In the early afternoon of December 20, 1951, Argonne director Walter Zinn and fifteen other Argonne staff members witnessed a row of four light bulbs light up in a nondescript brick building in the eastern Idaho desert . Electricity from a generator connected to Experimental Breeder Reactor I (EBR - I) flowed through them . This was the first time that a usable amount of electrical power had ever been generated from nuclear fission . Only days afterward, the reactor produced all the electricity needed for the entire EBR complex . One ton of natural uranium can produce more than 40 gigawatt - hours of electricity--this is equivalent to burning 16,000 tons of coal or 80,000 barrels of oil . More central to EBR - I's purpose than just generating electricity, however, was its role in proving that a reactor could create more nuclear fuel as a byproduct than it consumed during operation . In 1953, tests verified that this was the case . </P> <P> The US Navy took the lead, seeing the opportunity to have ships that could steam around the world at high speeds without refueling as being necessary for several decades, and the possibility of turning submarines into true full - time underwater vehicles . So, the Navy sent their "man in Engineering", then Captain Hyman Rickover, well known for his great technical talents in electrical engineering and propulsion systems in addition to his skill in project management, to the AEC to start the Naval Reactors project . Rickover's work with the AEC led to the development of the Pressurized Water Reactor (PWR), the first naval model of which was installed in the submarine USS Nautilus . This made the boat capable of operating under water full - time--demonstrating this ability by reaching the North Pole and surfacing through the Polar ice cap . </P> <P> From the successful naval reactor program, plans were quickly developed for the use of reactors to generate steam to drive turbines turning generators . In April 1957, the SM - 1 Nuclear Reactor in Fort Belvoir, Virginia was the first atomic power generator to go online and produce electrical energy to the U.S. power grid . On May 26, 1958 the first commercial nuclear power plant in the United States, Shippingport Atomic Power Station, was opened by President Dwight D. Eisenhower as part of his Atoms for Peace program . As nuclear power continued to grow throughout the 1960s, the Atomic Energy Commission anticipated that more than 1,000 reactors would be operating in the United States by 2000 . As the industry continued to expand, the Atomic Energy Commission's development and regulatory functions were separated in 1974; the Department of Energy absorbed research and development, while the regulatory branch was spun off and turned into an independent commission known as the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (USNRC or simply NRC). </P> <P> There has been considerable opposition to the use of nuclear power in the U.S. The first U.S. reactor to face public opposition was Enrico Fermi Nuclear Generating Station in 1957 . It was built approximately 30 miles from Detroit and there was opposition from the United Auto Workers Union . Pacific Gas & Electric planned to build the first commercially viable nuclear power plant in the USA at Bodega Bay, north of San Francisco . The proposal was controversial and conflict with local citizens began in 1958 . The conflict ended in 1964, with the forced abandonment of plans for the power plant . Historian Thomas Wellock traces the birth of the anti-nuclear movement to the controversy over Bodega Bay . Attempts to build a nuclear power plant in Malibu were similar to those at Bodega Bay and were also abandoned . </P>

When was nuclear energy first commercially used in the united states