1956

February 14
Nikita Khrushchev attacks Stalin and "cult of personality."

March
At UN, U.S. maintains that its opposition to nuclear disarmament is based on belief that atomic weapons are a "powerful deterrent to war."

July 1
World's first nuclear power station (5 megawatts) begins operation at Obinsk in Russia.

July 27
A U.S. bomber crashes into a storage igloo containing three Mark 6 nuclear bombs at Lakenheath Royal Air Force base in the United Kingdom. The resulting fire damages the bombs, but fails to ignite their conventional explosive triggers.

August
World's first full-scale nuclear power plant (50 megawatts) begins operation at Calder Hall in England.

October 26
Statute of International Atomic Energy Agency is signed at New York.

November
The Soviet Union threatens to use rockets against London, Paris and Israel if the three nations do not end their invasion of Egypt during the Suez Canal crisis. Although the threats are generally regarded as a bluff (and did not specify a nuclear attack against the targets), the overall danger of a Cold War escalation influences the US to pressure France and Britain to accept a cease-fire.