Sidney Siegel, a former president of the American Nuclear Society and advocate of nuclear energy for peaceful uses, has died at the age of 89.
Siegel joined Westinghouse Electric in 1938, researching on the effect of radiation on solids. From 1950 to 1972 he was vice president and technical director of the Los Angeles-based Atomics International, where he worked on nuclear energy to power communications satellites and other space vehicles. From 1972 to 1975 he was associate director for energy and the environment at Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Siegel was strongly opposed to nuclear weapons proliferation but committed to nuclear energy, believing it was cleaner, cheaper and safer than coal. In 1957 he helped organise the American Nuclear Society to promote nuclear research and engineering.
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