Re: History: Gregory Minor, 62, fought nuclear power

[Steve Frey <sfreyohp@SLAC.Stanford.EDU>]

Mike -

Wasn't this gentleman recently in the news about a 
controversy of a new radiological nature? I might have 
him confused with someone else.

Nonetheless, I hope he had a happy life.

Steve
x3839

At 11:20 PM 08/12/99 -0500, you wrote:
>radsafe'ers,
>
>The following appeared in the August 1, 1999 edition of the San Jose
>Mercury News:
>
>--------------------
>Gregory Minor, 62,
>fought nuclear power
>
>By Maya Suryaraman
>Mercury News Staff Writer
>
>====================
>Mr. Minor and two
>other midlevel
>engineers quit GE in
>protest in 1976.
>====================
>
>Gregory Charles Minor, a San Jose engineer who made
>national headlines in 1976 when he and two colleagues
>quit General Electric's reactor division here to protest
>nuclear power, has died at his retirement home in
>Telluride, Colo.
>
>According to friends, Mr. Minor, 62, died at his home on
>July 20 of leukemia, which had been diagnosed in early
>June, shortly after he moved from the Bay Area to
>Telluride for retirement.
>
>For a brief period in the 1970s, Mr. Minor, Richard
>Hubbard and Dale Bridenbaugh were at the center of a
>swirling controversy over the future of nuclear power in
>California. After they resigned their jobs as midlevel
>engineering managers at GE's Nuclear Energy Division
>in San Jose, they joined the campaign to pass
>Proposition 15, a statewide initiative opposing nuclear
>power. The initiative ultimately failed.
>
>They also testified before Congress that many of the
>nation's nuclear power plants were so unsafe that at
>least one major disaster, if not more, was likely by the
>year 2000.
>
>Shunned by colleagues
>
>In their new role as dissidents who had turned their
>backs on successful corporate careers, the three found
>themselves embraced by environmental activists but
>attacked by the nuclear power industry - and shunned
>by many former colleagues.
>
>"Of course, we lost friends," Hubbard said. "At that
>time, a corporation was like a second family. A lot of
>our social life had been with (coworkers), but that
>ended rather abruptly."
>
>...[snip]
>
>Their firm [MHB Technical Associates] was also hired
>as the technical advisors on the 1979 movie, "The
>China Syndrome," which portrayed a near-catastrophe
>at a fictional nuclear power plant. In 1979, they moved
>MHB Technical Associates to an office on Hamilton
>Avenue in San Jose.
>
>...[snip]
>
>Time also brought vindication of their position,
>Hubbard said. The same year that "The China
>Syndrome" was released, the Three Mile Island
>nuclear power plant in Pennsylvania experienced a
>partial meltdown. Today, only a few nuclear power
>plants are still under construction in the United States.
>
>"We never regretted our decision," Hubbard said.
>"Subsequent events, from Three Mile Island to
>Chernobyl, have really shown there were problems."
>
>...[snip]
>
>A native of Fresno [California, Central Valley], Mr.
>Minor graduated from the University of California-Berkeley
>with an electrical engineering degree in 1960. He went to
>work for GE that same year and earned [a] master of science
>[degree] at Stanford University in 1966.
>
>While at GE's reactor division in San Jose, he managed
>an engineering group that worked on new designs for
>reactor controls, safety systems and control rooms.
>
>...[snip]
>
>[Those interested in contacting the reporter who
>wrote this quite long obituary, only an extract
>of which is shown above, may be interested in
>writing Maya at:
>
>msuryaraman@sjmercury.com
>
>or calling at:
>
>(408) 920-5505.]
>
>
>Michael P. Grissom
>Phone:  (650) 712-1718
>Email:  mpg1@coastside.net
>
>
>
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