<P> The United Kingdom , Canada , 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 100 kW . 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 ) . 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 . </P>
when was the first nuclear power plant opened
December 20 , 1951