William States Lee III, popularly known as Bill Lee (1929 – July 10, 1996) was an American business executive at Duke Power Company, known as the cofounder of the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations and initiator of the World Association of Nuclear Operators.
He attended Woodberry Forest School and was a magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Princeton University in Civil Engineering.
Lee helped to form the Institute of Nuclear Power Operations after the Three Mile Island accident.
He was also an initiator of the World Association of Nuclear Operators, in the wake of the Chernobyl disaster, becoming its first president.
[2] A popular man and supporter of education, the College of Engineering at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte was named in his honor in 1994, as was the "Bill Lee Freeway", a stretch of Interstate Highway 77 north from Charlotte, and Duke Energy's William States Lee III Nuclear Generating Station in South Carolina.