Memorial Tributes Volume 21 (2017) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:
NORMAN C. RASMUSSEN
NORMAN C. RASMUSSEN
Pages 336-347
The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.
From page 337... ...
His public service included the National Science Board, numerous National Academies panels, and the Defense Science Board. This tribute is slightly adapted from a memoir that originally appeared in Biographical Memoirs of the National Academy of Sciences V
|
From page 338... ...
His father died when Norm was in the eighth grade, and the family moved near Gettysburg, where his grandparents helped care for the children. He graduated from high school in 1945 and enlisted in the Navy, which sent him to the Great Lakes Naval training school, where he became an electronics technician.
|
From page 339... ...
We frequently shared despair over the fate of the Red Sox and the curse of the Bambino.1 In our later years as faculty colleagues we would occasionally sneak off in the afternoon to go watch the Red Sox together. Academic Career Norm completed his PhD in 1956, with a very creative experimental thesis titled "Standardization of Electron Capture Isotopes," focused on determining absolute nuclear decay rates.
|
From page 340... ...
Thompson, who came to MIT in 1957 to design the research reactor. In 1966 Tommy began a special summer program in nuclear power plant safety, bringing together experts in all aspects of safety -- from reactor physics and engineering to materials problems, instrumentation and
|
From page 341... ...
The Reactor Safety Study The first US civilian nuclear power plant, Dresden 1 (in n orthern Illinois) , went online in 1959, followed by Yankee Rowe (in western Massachusetts)
|
From page 342... ...
He was an extraordinary witness thanks to his great depth of knowledge, his ability to put complex issues in a comprehensible form, his forthright presentations, and his wonderful sense of humor. At one hearing with Senator Pastore presiding, Norm was explaining the concepts and use of event trees and fault trees.
|
From page 343... ...
replaced the AEC in 1975, and after TMI it began to use probabilistic risk assessment (PRA) for specific safety issues.
|
From page 344... ...
With the release of WASH 1400 Norm was involuntarily committed to being a public figure. He spent an incredible amount of time traveling the world explaining the methodology, defending nuclear power, and helping develop the applications.
|
From page 345... ...
He retired from active teaching in 1994 in part because of his health. Norm will be most remembered by the scientific community for his remarkable achievements in nuclear power plant safety.
|
From page 346... ...
As part of his duties on the National Science Board he traveled to the South Pole, where he made arrangements to be helicoptered over to the ice shelf in order to see emperor penguins -- he was particularly fond of them and found this trip one of the most exciting of his life. Afterward he gave a seminar in the Nuclear Department with a slide show that included the penguins.
|
From page 347... ...
George Apostolakis was very generous in reviewing material regarding WASH 1400 and its impact on the industry.
|
Key Terms
This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More
information on Chapter Skim is available.