On 27 June 1954 the Obninsk Nuclear Power Plant, 100 km south-west of Moscow, began to supply electricity to the Soviet power grid, the first nuclear reactor in the world to produce electricity for civilian use. It was a small graphite-moderated, water-cooled reactor of 5 megawatts, and it ran for nearly 48 years. Britain's Calder Hall, with 50 megawatts, opened in 1956, and the American Shippingport in 1957. By the 2020s, about 440 reactors produced about 10 per cent of the world's electricity. President Eisenhower's 'Atoms for Peace' speech had been in December 1953.
Before and after
- 8 May 1954Founding of Asian Football Confederation
- from 15 May 1954 to 31 July 2012Founding of Latin Union
- 7 June 1954Death of Alan Turing
- 15 June 1954Founding of Union of European Football Associations
- 27 June 1954The first nuclear power plant supplies a grid
- 30 June 1954Birth of Serzh Sargsyan
- 13 July 1954Death of Frida Kahlo
- 17 July 1954Birth of Angela Merkel
- from 21 July 1954 to 4 July 1976Rise of National Liberation Front of South Vietnam
More in Science & technology
- 25 April 1953Watson and Crick publish the structure of DNA
- 1971Email
- 1973Mobile phone
- 20 November 1985Creation of Microsoft Windows
- August 2003Discovery of moscovium
- 2006Discovery of nihonium
The era
This moment belongs to the Contemporary world (1945 CE to today), the world since 1945. You can also browse everything in the 20th century.