Sydney W. Porter Jr., nuclear safety leader

In April 1981, The Inquirer reported on an emergency exercise that Sydney W. Porter Jr. ran for the Salem Nuclear Generating Station in Lower Alloways Creek, N.J.

"It was the first drill of such size to be conducted in the country," the story reported, "since the federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) put new restrictions for emergency preparedness into effect" in the preceding week.

In a foreshadowing of the March 11 tsunami's impact on the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plants in Japan, Mr. Porter said his 1981 exercise was meant to deal with "an incredibly unlikely scenario . . . sort of like having the Chicago fire, a tidal wave, and an earthquake happen all at once."

On Saturday, April 23, Mr. Porter, 78, of Ardmore, died of complications of lymphoma at the Quadrangle retirement community in Haverford.

Mr. Porter founded Porter Consultants of Ardmore in 1974 "to provide radiation safety and health physics consulting," his son-in-law John Eringis wrote in biographical notes.

"Early in the morning of March 28, 1979," Eringis wrote, "he was one of the first outside radiation-safety experts called to respond to the nuclear accident at Three Mile Island" near Harrisburg.

"His company was responsible for TMI's radiological environmental-monitoring program from 1979 to 1982."

Born in Baltimore, Mr. Porter earned a bachelor's degree in physical sciences from St. John's College in Annapolis, Md., in 1954.

Eringis wrote that at St. John's, "in 1953, he won the blue blazer as athlete of the year in lacrosse."

Mr. Porter studied physical chemistry at Johns Hopkins University in 1954-56.

He was coordinator of health physics at General Dynamic Electric Boat, the submarine manufacturer in Groton, Conn., where from 1957 to 1963 he helped develop radiation-safety programs for nuclear vessels.

While at Electric Boat, Eringis said, Mr. Porter studied radiochemistry at New York University in 1959.

Mr. Porter was head of the radiological safety department at the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute in Bethesda, Md., until 1969. There, Eringis said, Mr. Porter earned the Antarctica Service Medal from the Defense Department for work at McMurdo Station on Antarctica.

In 1969, Eringis said, Mr. Porter cofounded the Radiation Management Corp. in Philadelphia, where he was vice president of health physics operations until it closed in 1974.

From then until he retired in 2009, he was president of his own consulting firm.

As an adjunct professor during the 1990s, Mr. Porter taught human radiobiology at Drexel University.

In 1991-92, Mr. Porter was president of the American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists.

A fellow of the Health Physics Society, he was a president in 1972-73 of its local affiliate, the Delaware Valley Society for Radiation Safety, which in 2010 gave him its meritorious service award.

He is survived by daughter Dawn Eringis; two brothers; a sister; two grandchildren; and companion Barbara Opper. He is also survived by former wife Lynn Porter.

Memorial services are set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday, June 11, at Christ Church, 301 S. Talbot St., St. Michaels, Md., and at 10:30 a.m. Tuesday, June 14, at St. Christopher's Church, 226 Righters Mill Rd., Gladwyne.