John Christopher “Jack” Chandler was born in 1946 in Mississippi, where he lived until his graduation from Mississippi State University with a bachelor’s degree in Nuclear Engineering. During high school, he served on the Student Council, the staff of the school’s award-winning newspaper, and the staff of the school’s literary magazine. He also received recognition from his peers for his short fiction.
After graduation, the Air Force called Jack to active duty. He graduated from Undergraduate Pilot Training at Laughlin AFB in Texas and reported for aircrew qualification in AC-119G Shadow gunships in Ohio. He served a year in Vietnam, earning six Air Medals and the Distinguished Flying Cross for his 144 combat missions in Southeast Asia. He flew cargo versions of the C-119 after his return from the war zone.
Following his release from active duty, Jack accepted an engineering position in construction overview of the Fast Flux Test Facility in Hanford, Washington. During his time at Hanford, he wrote several papers and technical reports on fast reactor core design and completed work for an advanced degree in Nuclear Engineering at the University of Washington.
Following work at Hanford, Jack worked in nuclear fuel management for the Middle South Utilities system (now known as Entergy) and in nuclear fuel design and analysis for Exxon Nuclear Company (now part of Framatome). During this time, he authored a substantial number of technical reports supporting operating licenses and methodology for client utilities.
Jack worked as an independent consultant to the nuclear power industry for several years after leaving Exxon Nuclear. He continued to maintain software and prepare portions of technical reports for client utilities, who used them to qualify their own safety analysis capabilities with the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission.
After a successful consulting run, Jack went back to work for his most recent employer, then known as Framatome, writing computer programs and building the software quality assurance program for Nuclear Engineering. He retired from Framatome 13 years later.
For many years, Jack has enjoyed kayaking, sailing, Nordic and alpine skiing, fly fishing, backpacking, rock and ice climbing, golf, and road trips. He lives on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean on Washington’s North Beach Peninsula.
