00:01We are going on a journey.
00:13The first stop, the political center of Washington, D.C.
00:18Policy makers here face a huge challenge.
00:22The world's largest producer of greenhouse gases wants and needs to become clean,
00:27in terms of electricity, within a good 10 years.
00:32The Department of Energy is responsible for this Herculean task.
00:38In the context of the size and scale and variability of the grids around the United States,
00:44not just one grid, but multiple grids, of course, because it's such a large nation,
00:48making sure that the grid is reliable across all of those places
00:52does in many places require a real significant amount of firm, like, ready-to-roll 24-7 base load energy.
01:02And right now a lot of that is provided by unabated fossils.
01:07Katherine Huff is a division director here at the Department of Energy.
01:11As they look to replace gas and coal, they also look to the past.
01:17More than 70 years ago, an experiment succeeded here in Idaho that could also be a solution for the future.
01:25So we have come to a place today where hope was born.
01:30On this very spot, the United States produced the world's first electricity from nuclear energy.
01:38On December 20th, 1951, for the first time, a reactor provided enough energy to light four light bulbs.
01:46The next day, it was producing enough energy for the whole building and even the lighting in the parking lot.
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