Obituary: Former Westinghouse Executive John W. Simpson

John W. Simpson, 92, a Westinghouse executive and electrical engineer who became an early figure in the development of nuclear power for sea and space propulsion, as well as electric power generation, died Jan. 4 at Hilton Head Regional Medical Center in South Carolina. He had pneumonia.

With Westinghouse, a foremost maker of nuclear reactors, Mr. Simpson had a leading role in nuclear projects at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee; nuclear-powered Naval vessels such as the USS Nautilus submarine; and the Shippingport nuclear reactor project in Pennsylvania, the first full-scale civilian nuclear power plant.

After his retirement as president of Westinghouse Electric Corp.'s Power Systems Co. in the 1970s, he remained active as an energy consultant. He was regarded as an eminence in the nuclear field and an eyewitness to its emergence.

On behalf of everyone at NEI Nuclear Notes, our condolences to his family and friends.

Technorati tags: Nuclear Energy, Nuclear Power, Energy, Westinghouse

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