Thomas H. Pigford | Nuclear engineer, 87

Thomas H. Pigford, 87, an independent-minded nuclear engineer who was recruited by the federal government for his advice on major nuclear accidents and nuclear waste, died Feb. 27 at his home in Oakland, Calif.

He had been treated for Parkinson's disease for nine years, his wife, Elizabeth Pigford, said.

In 1979, he was a member of the commission that investigated the accident at the Three Mile Island reactor, near Harrisburg. The panel found that poorly trained operators had turned off key safety systems, allowing a simple malfunction to grow into a harrowing accident that reduced the nuclear core to rubble.

Dr. Pigford was highly critical of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, which he said had made technical errors and been unduly alarmist during the accident. He also maintained that his panel's findings were limited and should not be used to form a general indictment of nuclear power plants.

- N.Y. Times News Service