Dr. Ralph R. Fullwood

BS, physics, 1952, Texas Technological University; AM, physics,1954, Harvard University, graduate study 1956 - 1960, University of Pennsylvania, PhD, nuclear science and engineering, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Born in Hereford Texas and worked at Fullwood Electric from age 6 to 20 as janitor, automotive and tractor repair and tuneup and radioman. In 1948 physics major at Texas Tech. tutored math taught labs constructed modern physics and microwaves laboratories. Laboratory assistant at Harvard graduate school at Harvard, worked at the Synchrocyclotron laboratory. In 1954 married Janet Johnson and was drafted into the Army Chemical Corps stationed at Edgewood MD calculating neutron and gamma transport, devised reciprocity method for shielding measurements. On release, joined the Knolls Atomic Power Lab in Schenectady NY to measure the eta of U-233 using a betatron. In 1956, joined the University of Pennsylvania as Research ry Associate to build the Princeton-Penn Synchrotron and do pion experiments. In 1960, I joined Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute as Supervisor of the Linac and Supervisor of Instrumentation performing experiments on neutron transport, cross section measurements, and teaching as an Associate Professor. In 1966, joined the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory for cross sections measurements, bomb diagnostics, instrumentation design neutron radiography, design of a neutron research facility (WNR) and proton storage ring. In 1972, I joined Science Applications International Corporation in Washington DC where I participated in the Rasmussen Study of nuclear power safety using Probabilistic Safety Analysis (PSA), applied these methods to other power plants and the nuclear fuel cycle, including transportation. In 1985, joined Brookhaven National Laboratory to use PSA to optimize nuclear safety. Wrote interactive computer codes for PSA studies of aging and reliability as well as teaching for the DOE for physics and chemistry; editor of the DOE Risk Management Quarterly. Over 200 reports, papers, book articles and books including, Probabilistic Risk Assessment in the Nuclear Power Industry, Pergamon, 1988, with Robert Hall, Probabilistic Safety Assessment in the Chemical and Nuclear Industries, Butterworth-Heinemann, 2000. and Natural Philosophy: Physics with a Personal Computer published on the Web. He is a fellow of the American Nuclear Society and Life member of the Institute of Elecrical and Electronic Engineers and the American Physical society.