Joseph Hendrie

Fukushima reactors and accident In the period when the GE Mark 1 commercial nuclear reactor designs were being installed and started up by Tokyo Electric Power Company at Fukushima, Japan, Hendrie addressed the design. "In 1972, Atomic Energy Commission safety official Stephen Hanauer recommended that the Mark I design be discontinued, arguing that the small containment design left it vulnerable to explosions from hydrogen buildup. At the time, soon-to-be-chairman of the [NRC ...] Hendrie said acceptance of the Mark I technology was so widespread that 'reversal of this hallowed policy, particularly at this time, could well be the end of nuclear power'." In the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster following the Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami in March 2011, Fukushima reactors saw several hydrogen explosions, amongst other breakdowns.

Later life and death Hendrie served as president of the American Nuclear Society from 1984 to 1985. He died in Bellport, New York on December 26, 2023 at the age of 98.