Gregory Minor - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gregory Charles Minor was one of three American middle-management engineers who resigned from the General Electric nuclear reactor division in 1976 to protest against the use of nuclear power in the United States. A native of Fresno, California, Minor received an electrical engineering degree from the University of California in 1960. He gained an M.S. degree at Stanford University in 1966. He began working for G.E. in 1960 and died of leukemia in 1999.[1]

Gregory Minor, Richard B. Hubbard and Dale G. Bridenbaugh resigned from the division of G.E. that built nuclear reactors in 1976, because they believed "nuclear power presented a profound threat to mankind". All three were managing engineers who had spent most of their working life building reactors, and their defection galvanized anti-nuclear groups across the country.[2][3]

The three engineers acknowledged, in Congressional testimony, the possibility of human error, and asserted that nuclear engineers had become so specialized that none of them could see the whole picture any longer. As a result, they said, no one was in control.[1]

Some scientists suggested their statements "may have been politically inspired". All three of the engineers were members of the Creative Initiative Foundation, a California group that "seeks to strengthen human relations" and "change the world for the better". The engineer's resignations were coordinated with help from another CIF member, who helped them orchestrate the announcement for maximum effect.[2]

Gregory Minor said that he had developed "a deep conviction that nuclear reactors and nuclear weapons now present a serious danger to the future of all life on this planet".[1]

1. ^ abcWolfgang Saxon. G. C. Minor, 62, an Engineer Who Criticized Nuclear PowerThe New York Times, July 31, 1999.
2. ^ abThe San Jose ThreeTIME, Feb. 16, 1976.
3. ^The Struggle over Nuclear PowerTIME, Mar. 08, 1976.