Don Olander and Light Water Reactor Materials: A Personal Memoir and Tribute

Arthur Motta

Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering 

Penn State University

This talk is an homage to Don Olander, as a special tribute to the enormous influence he has had on a whole generation of nuclear materials scientists, and a remembrance of my time at UC Berkeley, working under his supervision. The talk focuses also on the co-writing of the textbook “Light Water Reactor Materials” recently published by the ANS.

Arthur Motta is Professor of Nuclear Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering at Penn State University. He holds Ph.D. in Nuclear Engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. Prof. Motta works in the area of radiation damage and environmental degradation to materials with specific emphasis in zirconium alloys. Prof. Motta is a Fellow of the American Nuclear Society (ANS) and received the Mishima Award from the ANS for outstanding contributions in research and development work on nuclear fuel and materials, as well as the ASTM William J. Kroll Medal for sustained impactful contributions to zirconium metallurgy. With his thesis advisor Don Olander he co-wrote the textbook “Light Water Reactor Materials” published by ANS in two volumes.