“Critical Hours” is a radio show and podcast that discusses the ideas, movements, and moments reshaping our world, our communities, and our lives. Produced by the Catanzarite Studio LLC, with hosts Lauren Leonard and Stephen Catanzarite. Listen live Saturday mornings at 7.

From Dawn at Shippingport to Midnight at Chernobyl: A Critical Hours special presentation

Stephen Catanzarite and Lauren Leonard trace the line from the construction and operation of the Shippingport Atomic Power Station to the nuclear disaster at Chernobyl.

In 1957, a reactor went critical at Shippingport, Pennsylvania, launching the first full-scale commercial nuclear power plant in the United States. Twenty-nine years later, a reactor at Chernobyl in the Soviet Union exploded.

This episode features Stephen Catanzarite’s talk at the Beaver Area Historical Museum last April, tracing the arc between these two events. It begins with President Dwight Eisenhower’s “Atoms for Peace” speech and the building of Shippingport Atomic Power Station, then follows the Soviet program, the design flaw that was known and suppressed, and the disaster that changed the course
of history.

Part 1:

Part 2:

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