Dixy Lee Ray, an outspoken advocate of nuclear power and Washington state's only woman governor, died at her home on Fox Island. She was 79.
Ray, who died Sunday, had suffered from a severe bronchial condition for several months, said KIRO-TV commentator Lou Guzzo, a longtime friend.An avid supporter of the nuclear industry, Ray was head of the Atomic Energy Commission from 1973 until 1975. She was governor from 1977 to 1981.
She issued her latest no-nonsense commentary on nuclear issues Thursday, when she dismissed media reports about past federal radiation experiments as alarmist.
"Everybody is exposed to radiation. . . . A little bit more or a little bit less is of no consequence," Ray said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press.
She had no patience for environmentalists she considered too strident. She and Guzzo, who was Ray's policy adviser when she was governor, co-authored two books on the subject, "Trashing the Planet" in 1990 and "Environmental Overkill" in 1993.