Nuclear Industry Honours Zack Pate with Statesman Award
June 2002

Dr. Zack T. Pate, chairman of the World Association of Nuclear Operators and chairman emeritus of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations, is the 2002 winner of the Henry DeWolf Smyth Nuclear Statesman Award.

The award, established jointly by the American Nuclear Society and the Nuclear Energy Institute, recognizes outstanding service in developing and guiding peaceful uses of nuclear energy. Pate was presented the award during the ANS annual meeting on June 18.

Pate’s leadership within the nuclear Navy, INPO and WANO has earned him a world-wide reputation as a nuclear pioneer. During his tenure as INPO president, he was instrumental in shaping the commercial nuclear energy industry’s current thinking on issues of safety and reliability.

His emphasis on standardized, rigorous, accredited training nurtured the concept of a “safety culture” in the nuclear industry. His career helped guide the nuclear industry to high levels of performance, and served as a foundation for a renaissance of nuclear power worldwide.

A graduate of the United States Naval Academy, Pate served in the U.S. Navy from 1958 to 1980, as chief engineer and commanding officer of nuclear-powered submarines. He also served as a special assistant to Admiral H.G. Rickover at the Naval Reactors Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

He earned his Ph.D in nuclear engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1970.
In 1997, Pate was elected to the National Academy of Engineering “for promoting and achieving significant improvements in the safe and reliable operation of nuclear power plants worldwide.”
The following year, the Nuclear Energy Institute awarded Pate the William S. Lee Award for Industry Leadership, which recognized Pate’s “visionary leadership in encouraging and promoting excellence throughout the nuclear power industry.”

Pate joins a distinguished group honored with the Smyth Award, including Glenn T. Seaborg and Sen. Pete V. Domenici.

The Henry DeWolf Smyth Nuclear Statesman Award was established in 1972 to commemorate the life’s work of Henry DeWolf Smyth, the Princeton University physicist who played an important role in the development of atomic energy beginning in the 1940s. He served on the Atomic Energy Commission from 1949-54 and was appointed by President Kennedy as the U.S. representative to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) with the rank of ambassador. Smyth also advocated an international partnership to develop peaceful uses of nuclear energy.