Rudi Stamm'ler Reactor Physics Division Scholarship

The Rudi Stamm'ler Reactor Physics Division Scholarship was established by the Reactor Physics Division in June 2014 (BOD approved November 2016) to recognize promising students at the junior/senior level with an interest in the field of reactor physics.

Dr. Rudolf “Rudi” Johannes Jacobus Stamm’ler (1936-2008) graduated from Technical University of Delft in 1958 with the equivalent of a Master of Science in Technical Physics, with a major in Reactor Physics. After of few years of pursuing a research career, he returned to the Technical University of Delft to complete his Ph.D. in 1968. From 1966 to 1985, Rudi joined ASEA’s Atomic Power Division (later on ASEA-ATOM) in Sweden as a reactor physicist. His key development project during this period was the highly successful PHOENIX lattice code, which is still used for production calculations at several international companies. Extremely lean, with a “very modern” programming style, PHOENIX was truly an engineering code, to be utilized by a wide range of users and not merely by a few experts.

In 1977, Rudi obtained a position as a Visiting Professor in Argentina, an assignment that extended throughout the next 5 years. During this time he taught reactor physics. The material of these classes became the subject of a fundamental book: Methods of Steady-State Reactor Physics in Nuclear Design. Covering both the theoretical and practical aspects of neutron transport calculations and including specific examples in the form of FORTRAN-subroutines, it became an essential reference for those working in that field.

In 1985, Rudi left ASEA-ATOM and moved to Norway joining Scandpower AS (later on Studsvik Scandpower), for whom he continued working until he passed away in 2008. He was in charge of the development of PHOENIX’s successor: the HELIOS lattice code, in cooperation with ABB-Atom (later on Westinghouse). Once again, HELIOS proved to be a huge success. Its geometrical flexibility made HELIOS suitable for a wide range of applications. It has been and continues to be used at a number of companies, laboratories, and universities around the world.