The nuclear power industry operates in a world of changing environmental events, government policy and environmental regulations. Here is a brief timeline of events, policies and regulations that relate to the industry and its environmental impacts:
| Date |
Event |
|
|
| 1805-1876 |
- Process of refrigeration, based on compression and expansion of fluids, is developed.
|
| 1912 |
- Construction of the first natural gas liquefaction plant in West Virginia.
|
| 1914 |
- First (U.S.) patent awarded for shipping LNG by barge.
|
| 1917 |
- Texas plant liquefies natural gas to extract helium.
|
| 1920s & 1930s |
- Various U.S. plants produce LNG for storage to meet peak demand.
|
| 1941 |
- LNG plant built in Cleveland, Ohio.
|
| 1944 |
- At the Cleveland plant, a storage tank built with low-nickel steel fails. LNG spills into a sewer. Explosion within the sewer kills 128 people.
|
| 1951 |
- Floating LNG plant constructed in Louisiana.
|
| 1959 |
- The world's first LNG tanker, a converted World War II Liberty ship called the Methane Pioneer, safely carries LNG from Lake Charles, Louisiana, to Canvey Island, United Kingdom, initiating commercial LNG shipping.
|
| 1960 |
- Conch International Methane conducts pioneering series of experiments involving small-scale LNG spills on land at Lake Charles, Louisiana, for U.S. Bureau of Mines.
|
| 1964 |
- The British Gas Council begins importing LNG from Algeria.
|
| 1967 |
- U.S. National Fire Protection Association adopts its first LNG safety standards, NFPA 59A Standard for the Production, Storage, and Handling of LNG.
|
| 1969 |
- United States exports LNG to Asia for the first time: from Alaska to Japan.
|
| 1971 |
- Distrigas Corporation opens an LNG receiving and regasification terminal in Everett, Massachusetts. An LNG liquefaction and storage facility (now owned by Terasen Gas) opens in Delta, B.C., to store natural gas for use during periods of peak demand.
|
| 1972 |
- First U.S. federal LNG safety regulations adopted, incorporating NFPA 59A standards.
|
| 1977 |
- California enacts LNG Terminal Siting Act, allowing the California Public Utilities Commission to approve one terminal. Indonesia begins shipping LNG to Japan.
|
| 1978 |
- Cove Point, Maryland, and Elba Island, Georgia, receiving terminals open. CPUC and FERC approve an LNG import terminal at Pt. Conception (Santa Barbara).
|
| 1979 |
- An explosion at the Cove Point terminal kills one plant employee and causes $3 million in damages. U.S. LNG imports hit 253 billion cubic feet, a record not surpassed until 2002.
|
| 1980 |
- Falling natural gas prices in the United States and a dispute with Algerian exporters over their LNG prices leads to a shutdown of the Cove Point and Elba Island terminals. U.S. government and Shell Research both initiate large-scale, fully instrumented experiments on the dispersion and combustion of LNG spills. U.S. adopts comprehensive LNG safety regulations that include exclusion zone requirements.
|
| 1981 |
- Lake Charles, Louisiana, terminal opens.
|
| 1982 |
- Lake Charles terminal closes.
|
| 1984 |
- Japan purchases 72 per cent of world’s LNG, using 75 per cent for electricity generation.
|
| 1985 |
- California authorizes Pt. Conception LNG terminal project to be abandoned.
|
| 1986 |
- No imports of LNG arrive in United States for the first time since 1974. South Korea receives its first LNG shipment (from Indonesia).
|
| 1988 |
- Distrigas at Everett, Massachusetts, resumes purchasing Algerian LNG. Lake Charles terminal reopens and also resumes LNG imports from Algeria.
|
| 1990 |
- Taiwan’s first LNG terminal receives a shipment from Indonesia.
|
| 1991 |
- First LNG deliveries from Australia’s North West Shelf arrive in Japan and South Korea.
|
| 1995 |
- Cove Point terminal begins operating as a natural gas storage facility.
|
| 1999 |
- LNG liquefaction plant opens in Trinidad and Tobago. First LNG shipment from Trinidad arrives at Everett. Japan purchases 66 per cent of world’s LNG.
|
| 2001 |
- Elba Island, Georgia, LNG terminal reopens. FERC approves reactivating Cove Point, Maryland. New EcoElectrica terminal in Puerto Rico begins importing LNG from Trinidad.
|
| 2002 |
- Bechtel and Shell announce plans to build an LNG receiving terminal on Mare Island, the first terminal to be proposed in California since the 1970s. Japan purchases 48 per cent of world’s LNG.
|
| 2003 |
- Cove Point terminal reopens. All U.S. LNG receiving terminals are operational for the first time since 1981. FERC approves a new LNG import terminal in Hackberry, Louisiana.
|
| 2004 |
- Port Pelican, about 50 kilometres off Louisiana in the Gulf of Mexico, is approved as the first offshore LNG terminal. Explosions and fire destroy a portion of the LNG liquefaction plant in Skikda, Algeria, killing 27 people. U.S. imports of LNG, more than 588 billion cubic feet, are a record high.
|
| 2005 |
- Irving Oil Limited and Repsol YPF of Spain begin developing an LNG import and regasification terminal in Saint John, New Brunswick; the Canaport LNG terminal, to begin operations in 2008, will initially be capable of delivering 1 billion cubic feet per day of natural gas.
- Bear Head LNG (a subsidiary of Anadarko Canada Corp.) begins work on a similar terminal at Bear Head (near Point Tupper) in Nova Scotia, with opening planned for late 2007. Sponsors identify five other potential LNG terminal sites in Canada – near Quebec City; Rivere-du-Loup, Quebec; Kitimat, British Columbia; Prince Rupert, British Columbia, and Goldboro, Nova Scotia.
- More than 40 LNG terminals are proposed in the United States and Mexico; 13 of these have received regulatory approval.
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