As nuclear power plants were built and produced power in the 1960s, local protests began to appear. Some scientists also started to raise concerns about nuclear power. There were fears of nuclear accidents, spread of nuclear weapons, cost overruns on power plant construction, terrorist use of nuclear materials and nuclear waste. By 1970, world production f nuclear power had reached one gigawatt or one billions watts).
In the early 70s, big protests broke out against the construction of a nuclear power plant in Wyhl, Germany. The cancellation of the plant in 1975 inspired protests in other parts of Europe and in North America. The oil crisis in 1973 put pressure on countries such as Japan and France to find an alternative to oil fired power plants. They turned to nuclear energy as a substitute. Hundreds of thousands of people participated in multiple protests in France and Germany in the late 70s.
In 1979, there was an accident at the Three Mile Island nuclear power plant in Dauphin County, Pennsylvania. Confusing controls and operator error led to the loss of large amounts of coolant which resulted in a partial meltdown of the fuel rods. This caused a release of small amounts of radioactive gases and iodine-131 into the environment. For days, the owners of the plant and government authorities floundered as they tried to deal with the crisis. Poor communication with the public, confusion over the possible need for an evacuation and authorization of the release of fourty thousand gallons of radioactive waste water into the Susquehanna River undermined the credibility of the plant owners and the government with the public. An extended investigation led to the conclusion that there was no health danger from the accident. Clean up ultimately cost one billion dollars.
World wide nuclear power production reached one hundred gigawatts by 1979. Rising construction costs due to construction delays and regulatory problems, dropping fossil fuel costs, public fears stoked by the Three Mile Island accident, law suits brought by groups opposing nuclear power and a lowering of demand for electrical power in the late 70s had major impacts on plant construction in the 70s. Sixty three nuclear power units were cancelled between 1975 and 1980.
Nuclear power plant construction slowed in the 1980s due to the problems mentioned above. Many proposed plants were cancelled in the face of protests, law suits, rising costs and lower energy demands.
In 1986, there was a terrible accident at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine. A power surge triggered an attempt to run an emergency shut down which resulted in a greater power surge. This second surge ruptured a reactor vessel and exposed graphite moderator rods to the air. The resulting explosion and fire released large amounts of radioactive contamination into the atmosphere in the form of dust and smoke. The prevailing winds carried the radioactivity over much of the Western Soviet Union and Western Europe. Over three hundred thousand people were evacuated from parts of Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. More that half of the radioactive fallout fell on Balarus.
While the Chernobyl accident had a huge impact on public fear of nuclear power, it did not have a great effect on the regulation in Europe and the United States because the design of the Chernobyl reactor was a uniquely Soviet design.
The World Association of Nuclear Operators was created in 1989 as a direct result of the Chernobyl accident to help the operators of nuclear power plants achieve the highest levels of safety and reliability.
Where the 70s saw a huge increase in nuclear power generation, in the 80s the world capacity only tripled from one hundred gigawatts to three hundred gigawatts.