Obituaries

Roger Sidney BoydNuclear Physicist

Roger Sidney Boyd, 74, who was staff assistant on nuclear weapons defense programs at the Department of Energy from 1990 to 1993, died Jan. 29 at the Culpeper Health and Rehabilitation Center of pneumonia and other complications of Alzheimer's disease. He lived in Locust Grove.

Mr. Boyd had a long career as a nuclear physicist with several agencies before retiring from the Energy Department. In the early 1960s, he was credited with coining the phrase "the China syndrome" to describe a catastrophic accident in which the reactor core melts through the containment of a nuclear plant.

He consulted with the governments of Germany and Italy on safety issues for their first nuclear reactors. He also was a U.S. representative from 1976 to 1979 to an international committee in Paris on nuclear safety issues.

He was born in Los Angeles and spent his childhood in Perrysburg, Ohio. He attended Bowling Green State University in Ohio until enlisting in the Air Force in 1951. He served as a meteorology instructor at Chanute Air Force Base, Ill., and left the military in 1954.

Mr. Boyd returned to college, graduating from Ohio State University with a bachelor's degree in nuclear physics in 1956. He began working as a nuclear physicist at the Battelle Memorial Laboratory in Columbus, Ohio, where he held the first operator license for a research reactor.

From 1961 to 1979, he worked on what was then the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission regulatory staff in supervisory positions. As director of the project management division, Mr. Boyd was responsible for safety reviews for construction permits and operating licenses for more than 60 U.S. nuclear power plants and safety reviews of Department of Defense programs and ships using reactor energy sources.

He was vice president of KMC Inc. from 1979 to 1989, consulting to U.S. utilities on nuclear safety policies and licensing issues.

In retirement, he developed an interest in Civil War history, enjoyed Japanese-style gardening and traveled the world on cruises. He lived in Wheaton, Rockville and McLean before moving to Locust Grove after retiring.

His marriage to Rose Marie Boyd ended in divorce.

Survivors include his wife of 26 years, Sybil M. Boyd of Locust Grove; four children from his first marriage, Diana Crossan and Kenneth Boyd, both of Gaithersburg, Roger S. Boyd Jr. of Olney and Brian Boyd of Mount Airy; and eight grandchildren.

Sal DeGiorgiCoach, Educator

Sal DeGiorgi, 76, a coach and educator in Northern Virginia schools, died of heart disease Jan. 17 at Georgeson Hospice House of Naples, Fla., where he lived.