1967 | Energy
Energy
Mining of the Athabasca tar sands begins in northern Alberta. The field contains some 300 billion barrels of recoverable petroleum, but development of the oil-extraction project will be slow and costly.
Swedish astrophysicist Hannes Alfvén quits Stockholm's Royal Institute of Technology and gives up his position as a national science adviser in protest against the government's plans to build nuclear power plants.
The Krasnoyarsk Dam on the Yenisei River in Siberia begins producing electricity November 3. Built by Soviet engineers, the world's largest and most powerful hydroelectric project initially generates 508,000 kilowatts and—when all 12 of its generators are completed—will produce 6 million kilowatts. The largest U.S. hydroelectric facilities have capacities of no more than 400,000 kilowatts.