Editing Nuclear power (section)

===Origins===
[[File:First four nuclear lit bulbs.jpeg|thumb|The first light bulbs ever lit by electricity generated by nuclear power at [[EBR-1]] at [[Argonne National Laboratory]]-West, December 20, 1951.<ref>{{cite web |title=Reactors: Modern-Day Alchemy - Argonne's Nuclear Science and Technology Legacy |url=https://www.ne.anl.gov/About/modern-day-alchemy/ |website=www.ne.anl.gov |access-date=24 March 2021}}</ref>]]
The process of nuclear fission was discovered in 1938 after over four decades of work on the science of [[radioactivity]] and the elaboration of new [[nuclear physics]] that described the components of [[atom]]s. Soon after the discovery of the fission process, it was realized that neutrons released by a fissioning nucleus could, under the right conditions, induce fissions in nearby nuclei, thus initiating a [[nuclear chain reaction|self-sustaining chain reaction]].<ref name="Inside the Atomic Patent Office">{{cite journal | doi = 10.2968/064002008 | volume=64 | issue=2 | title=Inside the atomic patent office | year=2008 | journal=Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists | pages=26–31 | last1 = Wellerstein | first1 = Alex| bibcode=2008BuAtS..64b..26W  |issn = 0096-3402 }}</ref> Once this was experimentally confirmed in 1939, scientists in many countries petitioned their governments for support for nuclear fission research, just on the cusp of [[World War II]], in order to develop a [[nuclear weapon]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/mp/introduction.shtml |title=The Einstein Letter |publisher=Atomicarchive.com |access-date=2013-06-22 |archive-date=2013-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130628151924/http://www.atomicarchive.com/History/mp/introduction.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the United States, these research efforts led to the creation of the first human-made [[nuclear reactor]], the [[Chicago Pile-1]] under the [[Stagg Field]] stadium at the [[University of Chicago]], which achieved [[Criticality (status)|criticality]] on December 2, 1942. The reactor's development was part of the [[Manhattan Project]], the [[Allies of World War II|Allied]] effort to create [[atomic bombs]] during World War II. It led to the building of larger single-purpose [[production reactor]]s for the production of [[weapons-grade plutonium]] for use in the first nuclear weapons. The United States tested the first nuclear weapon in July 1945, the [[Trinity test]], and the [[atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki]] happened one month later.

[[File:Nautiluscore.jpg|thumb| The launching ceremony of {{USS|Nautilus|SSN-571|6}} January 1954. In 1958 it would become the first vessel to reach the [[North Pole]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Nautilus (SSN-571) |url=https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/ships/uss-nautilus.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150721063358/http://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/ships/uss-nautilus.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=July 21, 2015 |publisher=US Naval History and Heritage Command (US Navy)}}</ref>]]
[[File:HD.15.019 (11823864155).jpg|thumb|The [[Calder Hall nuclear power station]] in the United Kingdom, the world's first commercial nuclear power station]]
Despite the military nature of the first nuclear devices, there was strong optimism in the 1940s and 1950s that nuclear power could provide cheap and endless energy.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Wendt |first1=Gerald |last2=Geddes |first2=Donald Porter |title=The Atomic Age Opens |date=1945 |publisher=Pocket Books |location=New York |url=http://alsos.wlu.edu/information.aspx?id=279 |access-date=2017-11-03 |archive-date=2016-03-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160328104803/http://alsos.wlu.edu/information.aspx?id=279 }}</ref> 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 100{{nbsp}}[[kW]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.ne.anl.gov/About/reactors/frt.shtml |title=Reactors Designed by Argonne National Laboratory: Fast Reactor Technology |publisher=U.S. Department of Energy, Argonne National Laboratory |year=2012 |access-date=2012-07-25 |archive-date=2021-04-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418094852/https://www.ne.anl.gov/About/reactors/frt.shtml |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yNwDAAAAMBAJ&q=1954+Popular+Mechanics+January&pg=PA105 |title=Reactor Makes Electricity |magazine=Popular Mechanics |date= March 1952| page= 105|publisher=Hearst Magazines }}</ref> In 1953, American 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 [[Atomic Energy Act of 1954]] which allowed rapid declassification of U.S. reactor technology and encouraged development by the private sector.