A Tribute to Richard D. McKnight - Nuclear Criticality Safety Division

A Tribute to Richard D. McKnight
Annual Meeting of the
American Nuclear Society
Reno, NV
www.inl.gov
15 – 19 June 2014
J. Blair Briggs
Idaho National Laboratory (INL)
Robert W. Schaefer
Argonne National Laboratory (ANL) and
Idaho National Laboratory (INL), Retired
This paper was prepared at the Idaho National Laboratory for the U.S.
Department of Energy under Contract No. DE-AC07-05ID14517
Introduction
1944 – 2013
• Career spanned over 43 years
• Loved his work
• Known for:
– Technical excellence
– Leadership
– Kind, thoughtful demeanor
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Technical Excellence
• Spent his Entire Career at ANL beginning
with his Work on his PhD in Early 1970s
• Analysis of Fast Reactor Critical
Experiments
• Use of Experimental Data & Uncertainty
Analysis to Understand Calculational and
Nuclear Data Issues
• Zero Power Reactor ZPR-6 and -9 Critical
Facilities
• Cross Section Evaluation Working Group
(CSEWG)
• Data Adjustment – Use of Integral
Experiment Data to Adjust Microscopic
Cross Section Data within Uncertainties
3
Technical Excellence – Continued
• Work on Modern Core-Follow
Analysis of Experimental Breeder
Reactor EBR-II
• Calculational Results to Identify
Source of so-called Dirty Bombs
• Advocated Safety Limits based on
Hard Data.
• Major Contributor to ICSBEP and
IRPhEP – Author or Coauthor of 20
ZPR or ZPPR Evaluations and
Reviewer for 14 More – Independent
Reviewer of 25 Non ZPR/ZPPR
Evaluations
• Encouraged us all to think about
sources and reasonable magnitudes
of uncertainty rather than blindly
choosing numbers that others had
chosen – bounding uncertainty
should only be used as a last resort.
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Leadership
Dick Was a Leader
• Advisory Groups, Conference Session
Organization, Working Party Subgroups,
Workshops, Training Programs, City
Tours, and Evening Entertainment
• Chairman of the U.S. Nuclear Data
Advisory Group
• Official U.S. representative to the OECD
NEA Working Party on International
Nuclear Data Evaluation Cooperation
(WPEC) and Working Party on Nuclear
Criticality Safety (WPNCS)
• Chairman of CSEWG Data Testing
Group
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Leadership – Continued
• Dick and His Wife, Pam Hosted the 2007
ICSBEP Technical Review Meeting in
Chicago
– Tour of ANL
– Chicago-Style Pizza
– Portillo’s Hot Dogs
– River and Bus Tours
– Blue Man Group
– Cookout at the McKnight Home
 Photo Opportunities in Dick’s
Corvette
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Demeanor
Even more than his deep technical
knowledge and ability, it was Dick’s
human qualities that made him so
special and influential.
• Dick was polite, kind, considerate,
generous and respectful.
• Those attributes won him respect.
• Dick was articulate, presenting
technical positions with clarity and
sound logic.
• He was also hard-working and a
man of impeccable integrity.
• When he agreed to do something,
it was sure to be delivered and he
often offered to do more than his
share.
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Demeanor – Continued
• At times Dick became quite
passionate about certain subjects,
but in the midst of what seemed to
be a stern rebuke he was always
able to show acceptance and love
for the individuals involved.
• He truly earned the recognition
and respect of his international
colleagues and was looked to by
peers and students alike for
guidance and understanding and
was always willing to take the
necessary time to answer their
questions.
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Colleague, Mentor, and Friend
Recollections from Bob
Schaefer
• Dick earned the admiration of his
colleagues. Typical of
comments made when Dick’s
passing was announced at
Argonne is this from Karl N.
Grimm:
I have never worked for a
more fair and caring person in
my life. I did not work for
Richard; I worked with Richard
- that is the way he was. He
always looked out for his
section members and treated
them with respect.
12
Colleague, Mentor, and Friend – Continued
Recollections from Bob Schaefer
• Dick always gave credit to others for
work well done.
– Dick was selected for Argonne’s
Exceptional Performance Award
multiple times.
– In one instance, Bob and a third
Argonne analyst contributed to a
project, but it was Dick’s initiative
that was most instrumental.
– Insisted on sharing a bonus payment
accompanying the award
– Bob thought he had succeeded in
declining his offer but, after Dick left
his Argonne-West office to return to
Chicago, Bob discovered he had put
1/3 of the bonus amount into his
briefcase .
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Colleague, Mentor, and Friend – Continued
Recollections from Bob Schaefer
• It was not just at the workplace that Dick
did whatever he could for the benefit of
others.
– With the membership at his church
declining and aging, maintenance of
the building became increasingly
problematic.
– Even though his dedication to Lab
work left him little free time, Dick was
the one who would step up and
repair the church roof, or whatever
else was the greatest need at the
moment.
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Colleague, Mentor, and Friend – Continued
Recollections from Bob Schaefer
– Dick, an only child, was especially
concerned about his mother’s well
being.
 She lived alone and periodically
Dick would make the 600 mile
round trip between Chicago and
Cincinnati to help her.
 In her waning years, the trips
became frequent. In talking with
Dick about those visits, it was
clear that they were motivated by
love, not obligation.
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Colleague, Mentor, and Friend – Continued
Recollections from J. Blair Briggs
• I am speaking now of my own personal
experiences and personal memories of
Dick.
• I expect that my memories will remind
others of similar experiences of their
own.
• I should also remind many of those in
the audience that Dick told of many
experiences he had with them, but I’ll
keep those to myself — for now.
• Dick and I talked multiple times each
week for many years. I came to value
Dick’s opinion highly and frequently
advised others that if Dick McKnight
offered his opinion, they really should
listen.
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Colleague, Mentor, and Friend – Continued
Recollections from J. Blair Briggs
• Dick thoroughly enjoyed showing friends
and colleagues places and sites they had
never seen before.
• Walking long distances has never been a
problem for me, but I was always
impressed at how long Dick could keep
going.
• When looking for a specific department
store or restaurant that Dick had visited
once on a previous trip, I always trusted
that he knew where he was going so I
typically just followed along thinking that
we would get there soon.
• Had I known our destination was on the
other side of Paris, New York City, or
Washington DC, I might have suggested
the Metro.
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Colleague, Mentor, and Friend – Continued
Recollections from J. Blair Briggs
• Dick also seemed to enjoy driving and
usually volunteered to drive wherever the
destination.
• Again, I always trusted that Dick knew
where he was going.
• On one very foggy evening we were
searching for a restaurant on Long Island
near Brookhaven National Laboratory.
We drove for over an hour with no
success.
• At some point we both seemed to
simultaneously share the same thought,
“I won’t be surprised if we drive out of the
fog only to see the Statue of Liberty in
the foreground.” I don’t recall where we
ate that night.
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Colleague, Mentor, and Friend – Continued
Recollections from J. Blair Briggs
• Next, Dick enjoyed fine food and
great restaurants, which happens
to be the source of many of his
stories about his other friends.
• He was almost always willing and
even anxious to find a good
restaurant (more walking).
• At the end of several such
opportunities with a small group of
friends one of us in the group
would eventually try to get the
waiter’s attention so we could pay
the bill, only to find that Dick had
very quietly taken care of it and he
wasn’t about to accept any help
from any of us.
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Colleague, Mentor, and Friend – Continued
Recollections from J. Blair
Briggs
• We had the opportunity to eat
at several very good
restaurants over the years and,
on occasion our wives, Pam
and Marsha, were able to join
us.
• A few years ago, I mentioned to
Dick that Marsha and I were
going to bring our son, Jordan
to Chicago, as a graduation
present, to eat at a restaurant
called Alinea, which, at the
time, was rated Number 1 in
North America and Number 8 in
the world.
• I invited Dick and Pam to join us, which they did. We had a wonderful
evening and Pam re-coined the phrase, “They had me at hello,” referring to
the contrast between our approach to a rather bland and unattractive
building to the spectacular welcome when the door to the actual restaurant
opened automatically.
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Colleague, Mentor, and Friend – Continued
Recollections from J. Blair Briggs
• The evening at the restaurant is only a
small part of the story, Dick and Pam
insisted that we stay at their home and
gave us the royal treatment the entire
time we were in Chicago.
• Dick always went out of his way to show
his hospitality and genuine friendship.
• He left a lasting impression on my son
Jordan who was noticeably shaken when
I told him of Dick’s death, even though
he had only that one trip to Chicago to
spend time with him.
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Colleague, Mentor, and Friend – Continued
Recollections from J. Blair Briggs
• When we met in Paris for the annual IRPhEP
Technical Review Meeting in October of
2012, I noticed that Dick seemed unusually
content to stay close to the hotel at the end
of the day.
• I knew from experience that Dick could walk,
so when Anatoli Tsiboulia and I met with him
for Joint U.S. / Russian Civil Nuclear
collaboration meetings in March of 2013 in
Washington DC, we noticed that Dick’s pace
had slowed and his desire to remain close to
the hotel was even more apparent.
• The last time we met was at the annual
ICSBEP Technical Review Meeting in May
where Dick had resorted to taking taxis to
and from the meetings.
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Colleague, Mentor, and Friend – Continued
Recollections from J. Blair Briggs
• Dick continued to call for several weeks
following the ICSBEP Meeting, but his calls
were now very brief.
• He participated by telephone in the Nuclear
Criticality Safety Program Budget Execution
Meeting on 30 July 2013 where he, one last
time, presented his case for the value of the
ZPR and ZPPR benchmarks.
• I talked with him briefly that day, but in spite
of efforts to reach him in the weeks that
followed, there was no response so I sensed
the inevitable and received official word of
his failing health only one day prior to his
death on 28 August 2013.
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Colleague, Mentor, and Friend – Continued
Recollections from J. Blair Briggs
• Dick had three characteristics upon
which I would like to elaborate.
– First of all, Dick was a very hard
worker and often, after spending the
evening with his colleagues, returned
to his room and worked into the early
morning hours.
– Secondly, he was always very
positive, even when it seemed there
was nothing to be positive about. I
gradually came to realize that he was
a man of great faith and simply had
faith that things would work out.
– Finally, it was clear to me that Dick
loved his wife dearly. He joked and
had his lighter side, but when I heard
him speaking with her more privately,
he was always very tender and he
was always anxious to check in with
her when he was traveling.
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Conclusions
• Near the end of Dick’s career, he had become a beacon of
logic and insight into many nuclear data and analysis issues.
• A first-rate reactor physicist and an extraordinarily kind and
principled man, Richard D. McKnight succeeded far more
than most in leaving the world a better place than he found it.
• Though he is no longer physically present, for those who
knew him, his memory will live on; for all of us, his work will
positively impact us for future decades.
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