when was nuclear power first used to generate electricity
Nuclear power The United Kingdom, Canada,[47] and the USSR proceeded to research and develop nuclear industries over the course of the late 1940s and early 1950s. Electricity was generated for the first time by a nuclear reactor on December 20, 1951, at the EBR-I experimental station near Arco, Idaho, which initially produced about 100Â kW.[48][49] Work was also strongly researched in the US on nuclear marine propulsion, with a test reactor being developed by 1953 (eventually, the USS Nautilus, the first nuclear-powered submarine, would launch in 1955).[50] In 1953, US President Dwight Eisenhower gave his "Atoms for Peace" speech at the United Nations, emphasizing the need to develop "peaceful" uses of nuclear power quickly. This was followed by the 1954 Amendments to the Atomic Energy Act which allowed rapid declassification of US reactor technology and encouraged development by the private sector.
Electricity sector in Canada Hydroelectricity accounted for 58% of all electric generation in Canada in 2007,[2][3] making Canada the world's second-largest producer of hydroelectricity after China.[4] Since 1960, large hydroelectric projects, especially in Quebec, British Columbia, Manitoba and Newfoundland and Labrador, have significantly increased the country's generation capacity. Canada is the world's sixth-largest producer of electricity generated by nuclear power, producing 97 billion kWh in 2013.[5] In Ontario, Canadian-designed CANDU nuclear reactors supplied more than half the provincial electricity demand in 2007.[3] In April 2014, Ontario became the first jurisdiction in North America to fully eliminate coal as a source of electricity generation.[6][7]