By the mid-1970s it became clear that nuclear power would not grow nearly as quickly as once believed . Cost overruns were sometimes a factor of ten above original industry estimates , and became a major problem . For the 75 nuclear power reactors built from 1966 to 1977 , cost overruns averaged 207 percent . Opposition and problems were galvanized by the Three Mile Island accident in 1979
Three Mile Island accident
Three Mile Island accident
Nuclear power in the United States