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EDWIN E. KINTNER
1920–2010
elected in 1990
“For significant contributions to the development of
nuclear submarine propulsion, nuclear power operation, and
management of magnetic fusion programs.”
BY PHILIP CLARK
e DWIN E. KINTNER, former executive vice president, GPU
Nuclear, inc., passed away on May 7, 2010, in exeter, New
Hampshire, at the age of 90.
He was born May 1, 1920, in Paris, ohio, and he graduated
from the United states Naval academy in annapolis,
Maryland, in december 1941, a member of the class of 1942
that was accelerated due to the attack on Pearl Harbor. after
serving aboard a cruiser in the Pacific for 18 months, he earned
a master’s degree in naval construction and engineering at
the Massachusetts institute of Technology (MiT). during that
period, he also married alice shoemaker of louisville, ohio,
on July 29, 1944, at fort Benning, georgia, where her father, a
lawyer and colonel in the U.s. army reserve, was on duty as
inspector general of the infantry school.
He then served for two years at the naval shipyard in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire, working on modernizing and
upgrading snorkel-equipped, diesel-powered submarines.
from there he was recruited by captain Hyman g. rickover to
the new naval reactors program, which became an agency of
both the U.s. Navy and the atomic energy commission (aec)
and its successors—the energy research and development
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Agency and finally the U.S. Department of Energy. Before
assuming his duties in the naval reactors program, captain
rickover sent him to MiT for a new program in nuclear
engineering started at rickover’s suggestion. This program
earned Kintner a second master’s degree, this one in nuclear
engineering.
arriving at naval reactors headquarters in Washington,
D.C., Kintner initially headed an engineering group but was
then made project manager for the first nuclear-powered
submarine, Nautilus, and its full-scale, land-based prototype
built on an aec site in arco, idaho.
The Nautilus project involved designing and building the
first nuclear plant to produce a large amount of usable power
and the associated steam plant to convert that power into the
useful mechanical power and electricity needed to propel and
operate a submarine without external support. That all had to
be done so as to fit into the confined space of a submarine hull.
it required breakthroughs in several areas, including physics,
metallurgy, electronics, and environmental medicine.
a major decision in the program was to reject advice to
pursue an extensive research and development program and
instead to proceed directly to the design and construction of
the full-scale submarine and its prototype. This decision was
described by Kintner in a featured cover article in the Atlantic
Monthly for January 1959 titled “Admiral Rickover’s Gamble.”
The decision also influenced Ed’s subsequent career.
Kintner managed and coordinated the diverse activities
that resulted in successful completion and operation of the
prototype and then the Nautilus power plant. Nautilus was
completed and launched on January 21, 1954—a little less
than three and a half years after the ship was authorized by
President Truman in august 1950.
following the successful initial operation of the Nautilus,
a number of additional nuclear submarines were to be built.
Kintner was appointed nuclear power superintendent at the
Mare island Naval shipyard in california, to develop in that
yard the capability to build them and to oversee construction
of the USS Sargo, the fifth nuclear-powered submarine and the
first built on the West Coast, and others.
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EDWIN E. KINTNER
in 1959 he was designated as the naval reactors’
representative at the Bettis laboratory near Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania, which was run by Westinghouse corporation,
as a contractor for naval reactors. it had developed nuclear
propulsion plants for Nautilus, Sargo, and other naval
vessels and for the first civilian nuclear power plant built in
shippingport, Pennsylvania, which began operation in 1957.
in 1959 he received the secretary of the Navy’s commendation
Medal.
in 1963 he retired from the U.s. Navy as a captain and
went to work for John J. McMullen, a businessman and
Naval academy graduate, as manager of a small shipyard
in Portland, Maine. in 1965 he returned to naval reactors at
rickover’s request (one, if not the only, senior person to leave
and return to naval reactors). soon after that he accepted a
request to join the aec’s civilian Nuclear Power Program,
with a major focus on the liquid Metal fast Breeder reactor
(lMfBr). in that position he brought greater technical and
management discipline to the work and directed the successful
effort to design and build the fast flux Test reactor, a liquid
metal–cooled reactor of sufficient size to test materials and
components in liquid metal and at temperatures and radiation
levels of interest for the lMfBr. This test reactor was in use
for almost 40 years.
in 1973 ed was hired as a deputy by Bob Hirsch, who
was running the aec’s fusion energy Program, to provide
added leadership and discipline. Then in 1976 when the
aec’s development work was transferred to the new energy
research and development agency (erda), Hirsch was
made assistant administrator and Kintner became the director
of the fusion energy Program. He proceeded to aggressively
pursue the 1976 fusion development Program, which called
for building a series of large-scale test facilities. The Tokamak
fusion Test reactor at Princeton University and the alcator
ii Test facility at MiT were completed and began operation.
He participated actively in international efforts to develop
fusion power, including a trip to the soviet Union with aec
chairman glenn seaborg.
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in 1978, erda became part of the new U.s. department
of Energy, and Kintner continued to head the Fusion Energy
Program. He was a leader in efforts to provide additional
focus on engineering in addition to physics in the fusion
program and testified before Congress in support of the
Magnetic fusion energy engineering act of 1980, signed into
law in october 1980 by President carter. in 1981 he received a
leadership award from fusion Power associates.
after the election of President reagan the next month,
Kintner continued his efforts to implement the plan, but the
reagan administration opposed having government build
large facilities or demonstration plants, preferring to allow the
private sector to do it. After a year Kintner resigned in 1982,
calling the revised policy “a national error . . . There is little I
can do except to make clear by my leaving that i am not party
to that decision.”
After a brief stay at an engineering consulting firm near
Washington, D.C., Kintner was asked in mid-1982 to join
gPU Nuclear, inc., a subsidiary of general Public Utilities
in Parsippany, New Jersey. gPU Nuclear was responsible
for cleaning up the Three Mile island Unit 2 nuclear plant
near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania (which had been damaged in
the 1979 accident), for restarting and operating the adjacent
undamaged Three Mile island Unit 1, for operating the
oyster creek nuclear plant in southern New Jersey, and for
decommissioning the saxton experimental nuclear power
plant in western Pennsylvania.
initially, he was the director of administration, where he
successfully professionalized and upgraded the security
force to meet increasing security needs for nuclear plants
and focused the finance and human resources groups on
supporting the basic mission of the company. in the fall of 1983
he became executive vice president of gPU Nuclear. While
involved in leadership and direction of the whole company,
his focus was on cleanup of the damaged TMi 2 plant. There
he reoriented the entire program to determine the extent of the
damage to the reactor, develop a plan to remove the reactor
fuel and ship it to the U.s. department of energy site in idaho,
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EDWIN E. KINTNER
and create and implement a strategy to place the plant in a
stable condition to allow for long-term monitored storage. The
program was successful. The total cost was under budget, and
the total radiation dose to workers was less than half of the
forecast. Many consider this successful effort to have been an
essential element in ensuring a continuing commercial nuclear
power industry in the United states.
Kintner also was a leader in a utility industry effort to
prepare for future improved nuclear power plants. This
multiyear effort was based on having the utilities that would
own the plants working with the electric Power research
institute and potential suppliers to develop advanced designs
based on major simplification of the design, reliance on
passive mechanisms for protection, and improved operability.
Three such designs were developed and ultimately certified
by the U.s. Nuclear regulatory commission. in addition,
comprehensive guidelines were developed and published on
ensuring the standardization of plant designs throughout the
life of the plant. This work has been and is being used (as of
this writing, in 2010) as one basis for current U.s. plans for
new nuclear power plants.
Kintner retired from GPU Nuclear in 1992 to Norwich,
Vermont, and then moved in 2005 to exeter, New Hampshire,
where he died. Throughout his long career, Ed was influenced
by four major things:
first was his deep religious conviction that there was a
god and that his duty was to use his talents and energy to the
fullest to benefit mankind.
second was his belief in the value of education and in
recognizing and facing the scientific and engineering facts
separate from any other considerations. He served for many
years on the Visiting committee for MiT’s nuclear engineering
department and was recognized as a distinguished alumnus in
1982. after retiring and moving to Vermont he was involved
in the institute for lifelong education at dartmouth both as a
student and for several years as teacher of a popular course on
science and religion.
Third was his wife of 65 years. alice accepted and supported
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his commitment to his professional activities and provided
a strong, intelligent force for ensuring his equally strong
commitment to her and their family.
fourth was his longtime commitment as an environmental-
ist, starting before it was common. He viewed nuclear power
as a major environmental benefit, but also championed conser-
vation and solar heating.
in all his activities, ed showed great intelligence, vision,
energy, and initiative. He had a great ability to recognize when
there was a problem, determine what it was, and effectively
address it. He was also devoted to helping people develop to
their full potential, and he influenced hundreds of people of
all ages.
His accomplishments were recognized by election to
the National academy of engineering in 1990. The citation
read: “For significant contributions to the development of
nuclear submarine propulsion, nuclear power operation,
and management of magnetic fusion programs.” He was an
active member of the academy and served as a member of four
study committees, as chair of committees on environmental
technology and on transmutation, and as vice chair of the
peer committee for selection of new members for the electric
power/energy systems section of the academy.
ed brought his energy and desire to excel to his personal
life. He was an avid outdoorsman. He took camping, hiking,
and skiing trips with the family. He blew up tied sheets to
use as surfing floats at a vacation home in Delaware. He was
an excellent sailor, serving as captain of 50-foot chartered
sailboats crewed by family and friends in the caribbean and
aegean, and he was a lifelong and excellent tennis player. He
was also a voracious reader and enjoyed good conversation.
He is survived by his wife, alice, and their four children:
Eric C. Kintner of Westford, Massachusetts; John J. Kintner
of Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Mary H. Kintner of Underhill,
Vermont; and Peter F. Kintner of Park City, Utah; and four
grandchildren.
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