Shippingport Atomic Power Station: Five Fast Facts
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Shippingport Atomic Power Station as pictured in original press package; photo PR-19109
•Shippingport started up 60 years ago today. On December 2, 1957, the reactor at the Shippingport Atomic Power Station, which was America's first, full-scale nuclear power plant, was made critical for the very first time. This event occurred fifteen years to the day after the historic first startup of the first nuclear reactor ever - the CP-1 pile near Chicago. Many important people, including Admiral Rickover, were present at the startup.